Morgan: Formerly known as: Subtlety
by Nariel Tinuviel
Summary: Danny's sister Morgan comes to work in the lab, and Flack is instantly attracted to her. In between the new job and dealing with Danny's issues, she and Flack become a couple. Slightly AUish, but cases featured are taken from the show's actual episodes.
1. First Impressions

**Disclaimer:** CSI NY and its characters belong solely to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer. 

**Note:** Cases featured in my fanfic are actual cases in the show...

**Episode references/spoilers:** #1.17 - "The Fall"

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-One-**

Detective Don Flack walked briskly through the halls of the crime lab, eagerly awaiting lab results of evidence collected just hours ago, where a wine store owner was shot in cold blood by three gang-bangers.

"Stella!" he called out and she turned around to greet him.

"Hey, Flack. Ballistics and fingerprint results should be out soon. I'm gonna go check on them. Could you be a dear and buy me a cup of strong coffee? Our break room coffee stinks," Stella told him, as she started to push him towards the exit of the building. "Get yourself some coffee too. My treat," she winked at him and headed towards the Ballistics lab.

_A few hours before…_

The crime scene was an upscale wine store situated in the Bronx. The owner had been shot twice in the back, and managed to describe his attackers to the first responding officer on the scene, Sgt. Gavin Moran. "Go back and talk to the bodega owner. Be nice,"

"Can't tell when the blood ends and the wine begins," Moran quipped, as Detective Mac Taylor and Detective Stella Bonasera entered.

"Actually, you can. The scarcity and color are different," Stella replied.

"Scientists." Moran countered, as she smirked and started to take photos of the scene. He reported that the store owner managed to identify his attackers as three teenagers, and two of them were armed. The paramedics came two minutes too late, he had already passed away. In addition, there was a witness who saw the three teens running off on foot. With that, Mac and Stella then began to analyze the scene: swabbing samples of blood and wine, collecting casings fired from nine-millimeter guns, all the while taking care not to get cut by pieces of glass scattered about on the floor. Mac suspected that one of them might have been cut by one of the wine bottles, while "showing off".

"Bingo." Stella spotted a disposable lighter, probably used by the suspect and promptly began to fume the surface for prints, and got a couple.

"Double bingo," Mac added, as he pointed to a surveillance camera on the wall above them. It had been shot at by the suspects, but it was connected to a computer, and they could try and restore the video to see what exactly happened. Meanwhile, Sgt. Moran headed outside with his partner, a rookie, to see if they could find anything else. Just as he was reminding the rookie on the importance of their flashlight and extra batteries, Flack appeared.

"Remember all the lessons, rookie. This guy likes pop quizzes." Flack was under his charge for four years when he was just starting out in the NYPD. Even though the young detective was now higher in rank, he never lost respect for his former mentor, for he had learnt many lessons from him. Till this day, Flack still recalls the old times while they were on patrol, how Moran would constantly remind him of everything under the sun. "Always be alert and prepared. Call for back-up if you need to, don't try to be a hero, you could get killed," were the basis of some of Moran's daily anecdotes.

After Stella came out of the store to fill him in about the two armed teenagers and caliber of casings found at the scene, Flack and Moran immediately deduced that the guns would probably have been discarded right after they left the store, and began to head west. Guessing that alleys would be the most likely dump site, they both snapped on latex gloves and began going from alley to alley.

"Too clean. Too many windows,"

Flack and Moran came to an alley which they thought would be the best place to dump a gun unseen. Splitting up, Moran entered the alley to check out the area while Flack headed for the next alley, deducing that one of them would have dumped the gun in the first alley, and the other would follow suit in the next alley. Their efforts paid off, and both the guns were successfully recovered. Now all they had to do was process the guns, get a match and case solved. Or so Flack thought.

XXX

"Where the hell is he? Told me to be here but he's nowhere to be found…" A young woman of 22 mumbled to herself as she shuffled along the halls of the crime lab, looking for someone. Turning her head this way and that in search of that person, she failed to notice Flack approaching her line of sight. Flack too, did not notice her, for he was barking out orders to uniformed officers at the crime scene via his radio. By the time he realized someone was in his way, he did not manage to stop in time to warn her, and resulting in a head-on crash with the young woman. After she practically walked into his chest, the only thing Flack was aware of was the scent of her hair. He was towering over her with his 6' 2" frame, and she was a whole head shorter than him. Right now, all he could see was the top of her head, but his mind was already wandering.

'I wonder what she looks like. God, her hair smells so nice.'

Only one second had gone by, but Flack's mind had already gone into slow motion mode. "Oh! I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" His dazed look worried her for a moment, but he managed to return to reality and muttered a soft "yeah". She then apologized again, before taking off in a quick walk. He found himself staring after her; at her long, chestnut brown hair, her petite figure…when the thought came that he should have asked for her name. "Damn!" he cursed, gazing at her as she passed through the corridor in search of someone. She stopped in her tracks and turned around abruptly, which made Flack jump. She started to walk towards him and he felt his heart thumping so loudly, it felt as if the whole lab could hear it. He could go around kicking down doors yelling "NYPD!" all fiercely, but there was just something about this girl that made Flack go weak in the knees.

"Excuse me, do you know where Danny Messer is?"

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this is my first try at a CSI NY fanfic, so please read and review! thank you!


	2. Morgan

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters except for my own creation Morgan. CSI: NY and all its entities belong to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer. 

**Episode reference/spoilers:** #1.17 - "The Fall"

**ENJOY!**

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**-Two-**

"I'm gonna kill you, Danny."

"Look, my bad, okay? I just received a case and was working at the scene, that's why I forgot that you were waiting here."

"Were you having so much fun with Aiden that you forgot that I was freezing to death outside the lab?"

"Morgan Messer, that is not funny."

"I know, I'm not laughing."

At this point, Flack had to say something or he'd explode. "So Morgan's really your sister? The one you've been talking about?" Danny and Morgan both turned to look at him, and there was no mistaking it. They had exactly the same eyes, the same big, blue orbs that were the windows to their souls. Now, they were both giving him a look that said "What are you, stupid?" Upon hearing Morgan's response, he made a mental note never to say stupid things to a woman when she is still pissed at something else. 'She will chew your head off regardless of your involvement.' He said to himself.

"Yes. I-AM-HIS-SISTER." Let the chewing begin, he thought and started to brace himself from any abuse she might hurl at him.

"Morgan." Danny gave her a look, and immediately she toned down the attitude to say, "Sorry, shouldn't have talked like that."

XXX

Half an hour earlier, Morgan had come into the lab looking for Danny, who was called out on a case. When her search for him turned up empty, she approached Flack, whom she had just bumped into, literally. "Do you know where I can find Danny Messer?" she asked, and for a moment he sincerely hoped that her next sentence wouldn't be her saying that she was his girlfriend or something. But before he could reply, her cell phone rang and she flipped it open with a considerable amount of force.

"Danny Messer, you told me to wait at the entrance and I was freezing my butt off for so long! Where the hell are you!" After a few seconds of angry silence which Flack assumed was Danny trying to explain himself, she sighed and said "Fine," then hung up. "Where's his desk?" she asked and he pointed out the direction to her, and she walked off without even looking back at him.

"Thanks," she called out.

Just then, someone said his name from behind. Turning around swiftly, he had kind of hoped that it was Morgan, but he spotted Stella walking to him instead. "Where's my coffee?"

"I was just about to walk out. Be right back," He said, and promptly made his way out of the lab to the nearest coffeeshop. When he returned with two coffee cups in his hands, Stella was already waiting for him at the entrance. She grabbed one of the cups and took a long sip. "Ah, just what I needed. Thanks,"

Stella filled him in on what the lab results yielded, and then added that they had hit a small glitch with the surveillance tape. "One of the bangers fired at the camera, which resulted in a little loss of information. Luckily, the camera is connected to a computer at the back of the store; we should be able to restore the visuals."

"So what's the problem?"

"I thought I'd already told you? Anyway our AV tech quit, couple days ago, family problems. So Danny called his sister to come down and help. She's good with such things."

As if on cue, Danny walked through the entrance. "Hey Danny, where's your sister? We really need her help here," Stella asked, and he replied that she was already here and waiting at his desk. Danny had returned to the lab from the crime scene, just to handle things with his sister and then he had to get back there. It then occurred to Flack that the girl he bumped into earlier could very well be Danny's sister. He did not realize it, but a smile had crept onto his face.

"Danny, tell your sister to meet me at the AV lab. Oh, and tell her thanks for coming in to help."

"Done." Danny said, and he walked off to his desk. "Flack, come on, I'll introduce you to my little sister." Without a word, he caught up with Danny, feeling very pleased indeed.

XXX

After Morgan apologized, Danny promptly introduced the two of them. "Flack, meet my little sister. Morgan, this is Detective Don Flack." She stuck out her hand and shook with Flack's, who could only look into her eyes and nodded a greeting. He nearly wanted to smack himself on the head for not realizing the resemblance between the two siblings earlier. Their blue eyes exuded a kind of irresistible charm, as well as a fierce streak of independence and spunk. Flack had half-expected Danny's sister to be a little on the soft-spoken side, because he got the impression that Danny was very protective of Morgan. Seeing her in the flesh however dispelled any previous notions he had of her. You could say that she lived up to her name. With a name like Morgan, she sure wasn't your typical younger sister type – she was just as capable of fending for herself without big brother's protection.

Flack stopped himself from letting his mind wander any further than it already had, and cleared his throat before speaking. "I think you'd better head over to the AV lab, Stella's waitin' for you,"

"Right. See you around," She replied offhandedly, and followed Danny to the AV lab. Flack didn't even seem to mind. Instead, he smiled to himself again. "See ya around," he said to no one in particular and left the room.

XXX

"Stella, this is my sister Morgan."

"Nice to meet you, Detective Bonasera."

"Call me Stella. Right now, I need you to help with getting the visuals from a surveillance system. Perps fired at the camera, but the system is hooked to a computer. Think you can restore the images?"

"If the camera is linked to a computer, there shouldn't be a big problem. Just give me about two hours," Morgan said confidently, and Stella directed her to the AV equipment, while briefing her on the whole situation. "I gotta get back to the crime scene, Aiden's waiting. You'll be fine by yourself?" Danny asked, and Morgan sighed, replying, "Yes, dear brother, I'll be just fine." She rolled her eyes at him, who smiled and waved her off before leaving the AV lab.

Everybody went back to their own tasks after that: Stella and Mac continued to work on ballistics, fingerprints and DNA, Morgan started work on the surveillance video, while Flack went back to the crime scene to see if Sgt. Moran found any more witnesses. On the other hand, Danny and Aiden had an investigation of their own – movie producer Melvin Heckman was found dead atop a canopy at his apartment.

Two hours later, like clockwork, Mac and Stella returned to the AV lab. "Mac, this is Morgan, Danny's sister." Stella announced as they walked in. "How is it, Morgan?" she asked, and Morgan stood up to address them.

"You're right on time. I managed to restore the information lost after the camera was shot at, and uploaded it into our computer. Take a look," she gestured to the computer and made way for them. "By the way, this is Detective Taylor." Stella said as she began to run through the video. Morgan reached out to shake hands with Mac, who said, "Thank you for coming down to help, I really appreciate it. And you don't have to be so formal with us; I'm fine with 'Mac'. Why don't you take a break? You deserve it,"

Morgan nodded with a smile, and left the AV lab. Meanwhile, Mac and Stella began to analyze the video together. Things weren't looking so good, because the angle of the camera was working against them, therefore they did not manage to get a positive ID of the shooters. One of the suspects also lost the lighter off-screen, the one that Stella found. Strike three came when they realized that a soda can carrying potential DNA evidence belonging to one of the suspects was missing from the scene, and there was no mention of that from Moran nor was it in any crime scene photos.

"_Hector, blast that fool," _One of the shooters said to the third and unarmed suspect, to which Stella rejoiced, "Did you hear that? Thank you for being stupid! We got a 'Hector'!" When the video ended, Mac headed out to meet Flack and Sgt. Moran. He had a match off the print found on the lighter and it belonged to someone in the 'Crazy Aces' gang. The three of them were going to the known hangout of the gang, to see if they could get any incriminating evidence on the guy. Passing by the break room, he saw Morgan in there and said to her, "Great work, Morgan. Could you come in tomorrow? We need to talk," She was puzzled by this, but agreed anyway. "Sure, I'll come in together with Danny in the morning."

When Mac left, Morgan smiled to herself. She was a fresh college graduate, and currently had a job teaching computer classes for youths, which was just something to get her by until a better one came along. Now, she was somewhat confident that a new job was on its way.

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Thank you for reading, and please post a review if you can!


	3. Detective 'Frack'

**Disclaimer:** Again, i don't own anything but my original character Morgan.

**Ep. references/spoilers:** #1.17 - "The Fall"

**Note:** A word of thanks to _Remote Control Princess_ for writing me a review! I really appreciate it!**

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-Three-**

Danny and Morgan came into the lab early the next morning. He wished her luck and patted her on the head before heading off to continue the investigation for his case. She began to approach Mac's office, and slowed down her footsteps when she saw someone else with him inside, through the clear glass walls of his office.

"…we're doing everything we can."

"Do it faster."

The man walked out of Mac's office and Morgan assumed that he was probably a lawyer or something, trying to get Mac to hasten the investigation on some case, maybe? She walked up the steps leading up to his office and tapped lightly on the door. Mac looked up from reading a file and gestured for her to come in.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Morgan asked cautiously, not knowing what to expect.

"Yes, as you know, our AV tech quit rather abruptly due to family problems. I've talked with Danny, it seems that you have a great potential to do this job well. Would you like to work here as an AV tech, temporarily or permanently?"

Morgan was ecstatic, but managed to contain herself. "Sure, I'd love to. When can I start?" Mac told her that she could start work right away, if she wanted, and Morgan nodded eagerly. He directed her over to Reception, where someone there would help to get her all the employment paperwork done. "Thank you, Detective Taylor. I'll try my best to do a good job," she said as she was leaving his office. "I'm sure you'll do a good job. And, you can call me by name from now on." Mac said reassuringly. He walked her out of his office and went to meet with Stella and Flack to discuss the case. Now that she landed this job at the crime lab, her current job would be redundant. She made a mental note to call up the computer school and tell them that she would either have to quit, or teach only once a week or something.

After the paperwork was completed and a pass and lab coat was given to her, Morgan made her way to the AV lab, where the now-former AV tech was waiting for her. He filled him in that Mac had called him up and asked him to return to the lab for a couple of hours to help orientate the new hire. He then began to explain to her the use of each and every equipment in the room, while Morgan diligently took notes. He also educated her in some of the pros and cons of the job, saying that while it might seem easy just sitting in the lab all day, sometimes "we get the hardest part of the investigation – finding a face." He also warned Morgan to be prepared for whatever she may come across while viewing video footage – you never know what you will see. "I came across a snuff film once that freaked the hell out of me, I had to go see the department psychiatrist for a couple of weeks."

Morgan looked at him wide-eyed and prayed that she would not have to see something as shocking as that, even though she felt that she had a strong stomach. "Well, I guess that's it, my job here is done. Trust me, you'll fit right in," he assured her. "I wouldn't have left if my family didn't need me back in Albany," he added.

Meanwhile, in another corner of the lab, Danny walked into the layout room while Aiden was processing their victim's clothing, announcing results of a chemical analysis from perfume found on the decedent's hands. "So you think Mac's gonna hire Morgan?" Aiden asked, and Danny nodded. "I'd say there's a pretty good chance,"

"Of course you'd want her to work here, so that you can watch her like a hawk, right?" Aiden teased and Danny shot her a look. "Shut up, 'course not. She's a grown-up now, why would I need to watch her that tightly?"

"Yeah, right."

XXX

Flack walked past Morgan while she was going for a bite, a couple of lab techs had offered to give her a welcome treat. He had so much on his mind that he failed to notice her. He had just given Stella Sgt. Moran's notebook for analysis, after a tense exchange with the man. Sgt. Moran was insistent that he made no mistake in noting down whatever he saw at the scene, but Flack just wanted to be sure, so he ordered Moran to hand him his notebook. Flack had gone through it, and a whole section of a page had been scribbled out, leading his mind to wander off in a thousand directions. What was written there? Why did he scribble the words out?

When he approached Stella to help, he requested the notebook be run off the record, in case the result turned out to be nothing of significance. After running it through the video spectral comparator, it was revealed that Moran scribbled out some words crucial to the case, which the dying victim stated a name, Hector, as well as a scar on his right cheek. The words also revealed the existence of a soda can _before _Mac and Stella arrived on the scene. She relayed this to Flack, who later insisted on going to check things out for himself.

Returning from her break, Morgan saw Flack leaving the building and observed that he looked troubled. 'Isn't that Detective Frack? Or was it Flack?" She pondered about it for a second, then shrugged and returned to the AV lab. A few hours later, Mac and Stella came in and asked her to load the audio from an answering machine into the lab's computer for analysis. After that was done, Stella told her that they could take it from there. Morgan sensed that the case they were working on was somewhat important, she decided not to ask too many questions. She stepped out of the AV lab and made her way to the break room, where Flack was pacing around inside. "Detective," she addressed him and went over to the refrigerator and got out a bar of chocolate. "Hey, Morgan. Heard you got hired by Mac. How's work so far?" She was surprised that he remembered her name, because she herself had nearly forgotten their encounter the day before. "It's good, so far. Uh, are you gonna keep pacing the room like that?" she asked, getting a little amused by his pacing. He stopped and sat down on the nearest chair silently, then Morgan followed suit. She noticed that he still had that troubled look that she had saw earlier.

"Something wrong?" she asked, and he looked at her distractedly. "Huh? Oh no, just thinkin' about a case," he replied, and Morgan decided to leave it at that, since he didn't want to talk. She didn't know him well anyway, so she thought that it's probably best not to probe. Morgan snacked on her chocolate and unknowingly began to gaze at Flack's profile. 'He's pretty good-looking, nice combination of dark hair and blue eyes…' she thought to herself before dismissing that thought almost immediately. What was I thinking, she said to herself and excused herself. "Wait a sec," he called, and she groaned inwardly, hoping that he hadn't noticed her staring.

"Are Mac and Stella in the AV lab?" Morgan nodded and they headed there together. Throughout the short walk to the lab, she felt that Flack seemed uncomfortable, even fidgety, and hoped that it wasn't because he had caught her staring at him. Just before they got to the AV lab, she asked abruptly, "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

Flack turned to look at her with a puzzled expression on his face. "Uh…no," he said, almost embarrassed. Morgan frowned at his answer and Flack hastened his footsteps and got to the AV lab before her. After he walked in, he started wearing that serious expression again, while Mac and Stella talked to him. Morgan decided to wait until their conversation was over before she went inside. She did not know much about the case they were investigating, but she felt that there was a serious issue involved. Maybe someone important is involved, she mused. While she waited for them to finish discussing the case, Danny walked up to her.

"Hey,"

"Hey big brother. Coming to check up on me?" Morgan asked jokingly as Danny tousled her hair playfully, something he does on a daily basis.

"Kinda. Wanted to see if you needed any help," he replied with a shrug.

"Of course. You just _had _to, right? You would've come by earlier if you weren't swamped by your case." Morgan teased, and Danny shot her an annoyed look.

"Yeah, whatever. Why aren't you going in?" he asked and she explained what she thought about the situation. He replied that something might be up, because Flack rarely behaves this way. "Mostly, if not always, he is more sarcastic than serious," he stated, then tousled Morgan's hair again before heading off to work on his case. Mac, Stella and Flack soon finished up their conversation and started to head out of the lab. She didn't see them until a few hours later when Stella returned to the lab alone, looking visibly relaxed. Morgan deduced that they must have wrapped up whatever they were working on for the case. They exchanged smiles through the glass walls of the AV lab as Stella walked by.

XXX

The time soon came for Morgan to get off work, and the same lab techs that had given her a treat earlier came by and asked if she would like to join them for dinner. She gladly agreed, and they went to their regular haunt about ten minutes away from the lab. The girls started dishing out gossip tidbits to her throughout the meal, and while Morgan was not one to gossip about others, she liked to listen to them. She enjoyed herself, eating, laughing and getting to know her colleagues…

Morgan and the girls went their separate ways after dinner, and she headed in the direction of her apartment that she still shared with Danny. Her college friends used to tease her about still living with her brother, while she was embarrassed about it for a while, she eventually got used to the teasing. "He's paying the rent for both of us anyway," Morgan used to say. That didn't change when she got a job; she hoped it wouldn't change, yet. As she neared the area in which they lived, Morgan decided to grab something to eat from the neighborhood coffeeshop, in case Danny got home late and hadn't taken dinner. She had known him to skip his meals sometimes, that's when she stepped in to be the naggy sister. When she walked into the coffeeshop, she spied someone familiar sitting at the counter. "Detective Flack?"

"Morgan? What are you doin' here?"

"I live a couple of blocks away, what are _you_ doing here?"

"Oh yeah, that's right," Flack seemed even more troubled than he was in the day. "I came to look for Danny, but he wasn't home yet," he said, and Morgan sat down next to him while she waited for her order.

"Yeah, he's probably wrapping up his case at the lab." Although Flack was dejected, he still seemed interested in having a conversation with her. "You don't seem to be too concerned of his whereabouts," he commented as she chuckled.

"He's an adult capable of taking care of himself, plus he's got a gun. Sure I'm not worried about him," she shook her head as she thought of that. "But you still care about him a lot, don't ya?" Flack asked, and she nodded affirmatively.

"I'd love him even more if he stopped watching me like a hawk."

"By the way, why are you looking for Danny?" she asked, and he almost immediately went back to his troubled expression. "Nothing, just wanted to talk," he replied, and Morgan could feel that he wanted to get something off his chest but didn't know how or what to say that's in his mind.

"Has it got something to do with the case you were working on with Mac and Stella? About the shooting at the wine store?" Morgan finally asked after about a minute of silence. Flack said nothing but she could see in his eyes that she had hit the nail on the head. Sensing that he needed time to get it out of his system, she decided not to push but instead waited for him to talk. Sure enough, after a few moments, he started to open up – he told her what had happened so far, meeting his mentor again, about his mentor's illegitimate son and how he had tried to cover for the boy, and finally how he felt when he had to arrest the man for withholding and hiding evidence from the case. He also told her that he had been sitting in the coffeeshop for nearly an hour after he couldn't find Danny at home.

"I just felt so helpless after I took him to central booking, I was under him for four years and now I feel that I don't even know him anymore," he confessed. Morgan didn't know what to say, she didn't know him well enough and she didn't know what could be said… she started to search for a reply as Flack stared into his coffee and just kept stirring it.

After a moment or so, she replied, "Sgt. Moran wouldn't want you to remember him this way, he'd rather you remember him as the guy who mentored you for four years, right?" Flack looked up at her and seemed to ponder about her remark as she continued, "Remember him as a loving husband and father, and also as the person who taught you everything you've come to know about the job, not as someone who hid crucial evidence to save his illegitimate son."

"Yeah…yeah, you're right. I should remember him the way I did before all this happened. No matter what he did, he's still the Gavin I know. He may be guilty but he did what he did for a reason," he straightened up and seemed to feel a bit better than he did before Morgan walked in. Her order came just then, and she turned to leave after paying for it.

"Can I walk you home?" Flack asked, and Morgan accepted.

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	4. The Silent Treatment

**Disclaimer**: I only own the original character Morgan. Everything else belongs to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer.

**A/N**: Remote Control Princess, sorry if you were confused by Chapter 2. I think I know why. Well, I've done some changes, so please leave me a reply if you think that it's better this time round. Oh, and btw, thanks for the wonderful comments! Please keep them coming! I hope that you'll like this chapter...

**Ep. references/spoilers**: #1.17 - "The Fall" and #1.18 - "The Dove Commission".

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**-Four- **

"Well, 'bout time you got home." Danny was sitting on the couch flipping through the TV channels. He was obviously waiting for Morgan to get home.

"Sorry, should've called you," Morgan replied mechanically, as they've had conversations like this one too many times. There were moments when Morgan felt Danny was keeping too tight a rein on her that she felt a little stifled, but never said much about the issue because she knew that her brother was just looking out for her.

After all, he was the one who almost practically raised her. He was the one who took care of her; a very young Morgan would spend time at a neighbor's house until Danny got home from school, then he would take care of her for the rest of the day. In short, Danny took on the duties of a mother, father and a brother, because the siblings' father spent more and more time away from home after the passing of their mother. Danny probably felt that it was his mission to protect her because of the significant age gap between them – 10 years, and also due to the fact that their mother had passed away at an age where Danny was old enough to realize what was going on whereas Morgan was too young to even remember. He probably felt that it was only natural for him to watch over his younger sister, because Danny had done this nearly his whole life.

She knew that.

"Danny, I know you love me, but I'm an adult now. You don't have to be so protective of me, okay?" Morgan said gently as she placed a hand on his shoulder and Danny covered his hand with hers silently without taking his eyes off the television. She sighed and placed the food that she'd bought onto the table and went into her room. Why did she even have to bring that up again? Danny's reaction was always the same, either he remained silent or he would ramble on about how it was his duty to take care of her, blah blah blah.

Half an hour later, she emerged from the bathroom and stepped into the kitchen looking for a drink, where she found Danny sitting at the table eating the take-out she had bought. Usually after a slightly emotional conversation would be followed by uncomfortable silence between the two siblings, so Morgan contemplated that she should probably grab what she wanted and get out of the kitchen to avoid that.

"So I heard that you did good for your first day," Danny said to her back, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned to face him and nodded. Danny then pulled out the chair next to him and gestured for her to sit down. This was obviously his way of asking if things were fine between them. "How did your case go? I heard the vic was Melvin Heckman," Morgan said as she sipped on a bottle of water.

"Case solved. Guy died from a fall, not murdered as we first assumed," he replied almost feeling amused. He recalled what he had said to Aiden after they realized that the case wasn't a homicide after all – the most feared man in New York dies from fear of his wife, who was the only person who loved him.

"What time did you get back? Flack came by earlier," Morgan informed Danny, who said that he returned home about fifteen minutes before she did. Morgan then related what had happened with her and Flack in the coffeeshop to her brother who listened intently and said, "Yeah, I heard about what happened. Didn't get a chance to talk to him. Is he okay now?"

"I guess so; we even had a nice chat when he walked me home," she answered as Danny took a sip of his water and nearly choked. "He walked you home?"

Morgan couldn't understand why he reacted this way, and rolled her eyes at him, saying that nothing happened and Flack was just being polite, that's all. "You sure?" he said and scrutinized her.

"YES! Ask Flack yourself if you want," she glared at him and left the kitchen.

"Goodnight!" she called out.

**XXX**

The week went by quickly and going through security footage almost became a routine for Morgan, but she didn't get bored because she was aware that some cases hinges on whatever the AV tech can dig up through the footage, and she made sure she did whatever she could to assist the CSIs in their investigation. An interesting case soon came along – the shooting of Commissioner Stanwyk and a female civilian which was first thought to be linked to the impending release of the Dove Commission, something Morgan was unfamiliar with. She later found out that the Dove Commission was a report put together to uncover corruption in the NYPD. This being an important case touted by Flack as being the "biggest of the year", the primaries on the case Mac and Stella handled the most part of the footage analysis. Morgan was responsible for loading the news footage that Flack had subpoena-ed with much difficulty, as well as the footage from the TAG mini-helicopter, into the lab's computer.

"Thanks Morgan," Mac said as he and Stella began to go through both footages side-by-side on two monitors. Morgan decided to go to the break room for a coffee break when Aiden came up from behind. "Hey Morgan, I need to talk to you," she said, and the both of them entered the break room.

Morgan wondered what could be wrong, because Aiden was looking a little concerned and for a moment, she thought that something might have happened to Danny, as she hadn't seen him around for most part of the day.

"Is it about Danny?" she asked, and Aiden nodded, but reassured Morgan that he wasn't in any trouble nor danger. Aiden then told her about the case she and Danny were working on, a gypsy cab driver stabbed to death outside his car. She filled Morgan in with as much details as possible without violating protocol. Aiden also told her about Danny's attitude and the heated exchange between him and the victim's son. "The victim was a gypsy cab driver?" Morgan asked, and Aiden nodded in the affirmative. After that, Morgan seemed to clam up and she wondered that something might have happened to Danny in the past that made him dislike gypsy cab drivers. Morgan kept quiet for a few moments and stared into space. "Morgan, you okay?" Aiden asked, and she straightened up and said that everything was fine.

"Don't worry about Danny, he'll be fine," Morgan said and Aiden got the feeling that she didn't want to talk about Danny's 'issues' with gypsy cab drivers, so she went back to the case. Aiden and Danny were having bigger problems of their own – DNA analysis from skin under the victim's fingernails indicated a female suspect, when everything about the crime pointed to a male perp.

After Morgan had tied up her work for the day, she hung up her lab coat and went around the lab looking for Danny. She caught up with Aiden, who had just returned from somewhere and asked about Danny. "We caught the perp, put him in the holding cell at the precinct, Danny said that he had to go somewhere," she replied and Morgan asked if Aiden had any idea where Danny went. Aiden smiled and answered that he probably went to see the victim's son, to apologize for his behavior earlier. "Great, can you give me the address?"

"Good luck with finding Danny," Aiden said after giving Morgan the address, and immediately ran out to hail a taxi.

Morgan arrived at the address that Aiden had written down for her, and saw Danny standing in the rain, waiting for someone. She contemplated going up to him, but hesitated when she saw him going up to a boy about 18 years of age. She began to cross to the side of the street where Danny was, whose back was facing her. She was out of earshot for a while, and when she got near enough all she heard was Danny saying, "New York City needs more men like your father," and the boy said something to him and walked up the steps to his apartment. After that, Danny turned around and saw his sister looking at him and holding an umbrella.

He walked up to her and before he could say anything Morgan held up the umbrella, he huddled close to her under it as they walked to Danny's car in silence. Danny didn't have to say anything, because Morgan already knew what was going on. He had behaved harshly towards the victim's son in the first place because of a bad experience with their father when Danny was 10 – they got into a gypsy cab and the driver had beaten the both of them up. Although Morgan was still a toddler, she was aware of that incident as she got older – Danny used to have nightmares about it occasionally and a young Morgan would go into his room to take a look at him when he woke up screaming. Clearly, Danny had never been able to completely get over that childhood experience, and behaved out of character when he found out about the victim's occupation.

"Why did you come here?" Danny asked as he stuck his car key into the ignition, to which Morgan answered with only a mere shrug of her shoulders.

* * *

I'm not an expert at writing such procedural stuff, so forgive me if my description of some technical stuff is unclear. Please read & review, so that I can try and improve on my writing! Thank you 


	5. Spit it out, Messer

**Disclaimer: **As usual, I do not own any characters nor the show. The only thing I own is this story and the original character Morgan. Hehe

**Ep. references/spoilers: **#1.19 - "Crime & Misdemeanor".

**

* * *

-Five- **

Danny walked through the corridors of the crime lab, pushing his glasses up back onto his nose as he went. His mind was running all over the place, he'd just gotten a case – a human 'statue' painted all over in silver, found dead in the streets on Lower Manhattan. After the Dr. Hawkes performed an autopsy on the victim, he made an interesting discovery: the man died of natural causes; he was dead even _before_ some tourists, who were the ones who found the body, knocked him down. The twist came however, when Danny and Aiden found a fast food receipt on the man that was issued only a day earlier which meant that someone else was wearing the clothes before the deceased.

Whoever dressed the corpse could only be charged with a misdemeanor at most, but what Danny couldn't get over was _why _someone would do a thing like that.

Meanwhile, Morgan had been busy all morning working on security footage from an apartment building – linked to a homicide the team had investigated recently but put on the back burner when the case went cold. She managed to tear herself away from the computer screen and was on her way to the break room to grab a drink when she saw Danny walking towards her, who seemed preoccupied and didn't even see her. Morgan was about to call out to her brother when Mac came up to Danny from behind and he turned to address his boss, who looked a little tense.

Being curious was one of Morgan's characteristics, so she stopped and stood behind a wall just to see what was going on. The distance between Morgan and the two of them was too big for her to clearly hear what was being said, but she could catch snippets of their conversation. Based on what she knew, she pieced together that Mac was probably asking Danny to concentrate on other, more important cases than the one about the human statue.

Word travels fast around the lab, and into Morgan's ears, especially if there was any gossip about Danny.

His back was facing Morgan the whole time Danny was talking to Mac, so she couldn't see his reaction or what he was saying, but knowing Danny, he was not going to give up on this case that easily. Mac walked back into his office after that, and Aiden approached him; apparently she had seen the exchange between the two men as well, from the break room. Morgan inched closer, and managed to hear Danny telling Aiden that they were still on the same case, obviously ignoring Mac's order to hand off the case.

He's being pig-headed again, Morgan thought to herself.

Danny and Aiden went past her, probably to resume investigation on the case, and Morgan continued on her way to the break room. She and Aiden shared a look as they went past each other which said it all – "He is _so_ stubborn," whereas Danny only mumbled a "hey" as he went past. He was clearly bothered by what Mac had said to him, but his stubborn personality stopped him from listening to his boss. As she looked at the departing figure of her brother, Morgan wondered what Mac would do if he found out Danny had gone against his orders and went on with the case.

XXX

"Had fun with your girl, Chad?" Morgan teased as the lab tech walked past the AV lab. Nearly everyone had gotten wind that Mac and Stella was going to experiment with blood patterns and Chad had been the guinea pig, lying with a mannequin in various positions as 'blood' flowed out from the spot where the victim had been slashed by a broken champagne bottle. Chad shot her a look and flashed a contrived smile.

"If you must know, yes, I did. Happy?"

XXX

Aiden was just about ready to give up on the case when she came across something on the surveillance tapes from buildings near the spot the dead guy was found. She used math calculations to figure out the difference in height between the man standing there two days ago and the dead guy just before he was knocked down by the tourists. After that, she and Danny went through the clothes the dead guy was found in, again. When that came up empty too, she'd had it. She let it slip that she already knew that they were supposed to pass off the case but Aiden still helped him.

In the end, they managed to find the man who was in the surveillance footage two days ago, who said that he'd come across the dead guy, a homeless man, and decided to carry him home, dressed him up while he himself took a day off and did absolutely nothing.

XXX

"Hey," Danny called, leaning against the door of the AV lab. "Dinner?"

Morgan's head snapped up from watching the monitor, took one look at him, and grimaced. "Uh oh."

"What do you mean by 'uh oh'?"

"Uhh, because I get the feeling that you're gonna wanna make our dinner. Besides that, your look tells me that you're not exactly feeling ecstatic right now."

"What are you gettin' at?"

"Nothing, just that you should never cook when you're in a shitty mood," Morgan answered. Danny laughed at her answer, but Morgan could sense that there was something bugging him because he didn't sound amused at all.

"Messer, spit it out," she said to her brother, who immediately stopped laughing and his lips tightened.

"Nothing happened. And don't call me 'Messer'."

"_Some_thing happened, Danny. I could hear Mac's voice all the way in here just now. He was talking to you, wasn't he?"

Danny looked down and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He shifted his gaze around as Morgan kept her gaze fixed on him. He always caved in after a while, because his sister was very good at looking at him a certain way that always made him talk.

"Mac told me to pass off this case,"

"I know. The human statue thing," Morgan finished for him.

"Yeah, but I didn't listen. I thought there was more to it than meets the eye. But turns out that the person who dressed up the dead guy just wanted to take a day off and relax, there wasn't anything sinister behind his motives at all," Danny said, and Morgan got the feeling that he was almost regretting his initial decision to continue on with the case. Although she had heard Mac's voice earlier, she had trouble making out what he was saying exactly, and she had taken a wild guess when Morgan saw Danny's sullen expression while he was walking towards the AV lab. He went to relate what Mac had said to him, about how his actions may affect the whole lab, not just himself. He also told her that he was a little out of line just now, but maintained that he did not regret his decision.

"Just don't do something like that again. I may have to put on earplugs the next time Mac flares up," Morgan joked, trying to lighten things up, knowing that Mac's lecture had dampened Danny's spirits greatly. It was bad enough that he carried on with the case against Mac's orders, the outcome made things worse. Now, Danny only hoped that Mac wouldn't lose his faith in him.

"Now shall we go get dinner?"

"Sure, as long as you're not cooking, Danny."

* * *

I decided to put that little part in about Chad and the mannequin experiment just for a little laugh. Hope you liked this chapter, and remember, please R & R! Thank you! 

Coming up next...a cute chapter with lots of Flack/Aiden banter! Don't miss it!


	6. Drool Bucket, Please!

**Disclaimer: **The only thing I own is this story and the original character Morgan.

**Note #1: **I guess this could be a filler chapter of sorts. I started out with a bit of Flack/Aiden banter and it ended up into a full-fledged chapter about Flack's interest in Morgan.

**Note #2: **I wanna thank my friend and fellow CSI NY fanatic Maryann for contributing her ideas for this chapter. THANK YOU!

**Ep. references/spoilers: **None. But, just as a precaution --#1.13 - "Tanglewood".

**Thanks Becs for the ever-wonderful reviews!Please keep them coming!**

**

* * *

-Six- **

"Flack," Aiden called, but he didn't seem to have heard her. "Flack?"

"FLACK!" This time Aiden stood right next to him and yelled into his ear, and Flack nearly jumped one foot into the air.

"Aiden! What the hell were you doing, screaming into my ear like that!" Flack scolded, his chest heaving as he tried to recover from the shock.

"Well, what were _you_ doing?" she asked, as she peered over his shoulder to see what he had been so fascinated with.

"Donald Flack Jr., you're a _dead_ man," Aiden said as she shook a finger at him, which was smacked away by Flack. "Don't call me Donald, I hate that. And why am I a dead man, huh?"

"Why? 'Cuz you're practically drooling over Messer's little sister, that's why," she retorted as Flack tried to slap his hand over her mouth. "Keep it down, Burn," he whispered as Aiden pried his hand away.

"I'm right, and you know it. Why else would you lurk around here on your day off?"

Flack had been gazing at Morgan in the break room, chatting with a couple of other lab techs, while he was with Aiden in the hallway. "Do I need to go grab a drool bucket for you?" she teased as he shot daggers at her. Aiden was right on the money about Flack, and he hated that. Today was his day off, and somehow he had made up his mind to ask her out and ended up in the lab.

"Why don't you ask her out already? She's never gonna know how you feel if all you ever do is _look_ at her? And I don't think she'll be too happy if she finds out about that," Aiden said, her arms folded as she looked up at him.

"Whatever happened to all the 'subtlety' crap you women always talk about?" Flack grumbled as he peered like an inquisitive child into the break room.

"Well…you can do that too, but…" Aiden trailed off and scrutinized her friend rather intensely.

"_What_?" Flack asked growing agitated under her gaze.

"Nah. Subtlety just isn't your thing. You're the…_wild_ type. Aggressive, head-strong, 'Gladiator' type."

Flack's eyes widened as she grinned gleefully at him.

Why did he have a feeling that she was enjoying every single second of it?

"Glad that you think of me that way." He muttered before clearing his throat.

"Well, I'm not gonna go up there and tell her straight that I – "

"Love her?"

Flack stared at Aiden.

"You're mad." He announced after a while, and promptly tried to brush the topic off but Aiden wouldn't budge, and she hung onto him like a persistent insect.

"Come on, you're in love with her. Admit it."

"Whoa, whoa wait a sec. Who says I'm in love with her!"

"Me." Aiden replied and eyeballed him momentarily. "So…are you?"

"Aiden, I appreciate your friendship, really. But God, you can be so annoying!"

The woman waved a nonchalant hand in the air.

"A trait I'm really quite proud of. Stop changing the subject!" Aiden punched Flack's arm. "So?"

"What? NO! I'm not _in_ love with her. I'm just…"

Flack struggled for words.

"Yes…?" Aiden urged encouragingly.

"Interested in her." The detective finished lamely, and Aiden sighed.

"How many girls have you dated exactly, hmm?"

"Now that really isn't much of your business, Aiden." Flack said as he craned his neck into a painful position to get a clearer glimpse of Morgan.

"You're such a hopeless case, Flack."

"I'm trying to approach this the gentleman's way, Aiden. I just like her, that's all."

"Flack, don't insult my intelligence."

"Cute."

"You really could use a lesson or two to get a date. I mean, good looks is one thing, but your approach…" Aiden was starting to talk a mile a minute and as she progressed, Flack's mouth was slowly changing to a pout.

"So…how did it happen?" Aiden asked after awhile, and Flack related the circumstances under which he and Morgan met, while Aiden wore a grin so huge it was threatening to envelope her entire face.

"Go ahead, laugh all you want." He said, rolling his eyes as he saw the CSI tremble with suppressed laughter.

Aiden laughed as loud as she could without attracting stares from her co-workers (which she did poorly), and when she finally stopped, Flack looked at her intently – or worriedly, if you will.

She raised an eyebrow in amusement as he started darting his eyes around, as if looking for someone.

"Does Danny know that – "

"You have a big crush on his little sister? What do you think?"

"He would've cornered me and forced it out of me if he did," Flack admitted, his head bowed low.

"Precisely. So you'd better pray that you get yourself in Morgan's good books before he finds out," Aiden answered, as Morgan left the break room and caught sight of the two of them.

"Hey, you two," she waved as Flack began whispering to Aiden, asking what he should say to Morgan.

"Well, you do what you intended to do. _Subtlety_, my dear friend." Aiden all but replied.

"Everything alright there?" Morgan asked, spotting the near frantic look on Flack's face.

"Oh, all's fine." Aiden assured her cheerily, and 'accidentally' dropped her pen. "Oh! Clumsy me!" She exclaimed, and while she bent down to retrieve the fallen item promptly took the opportunity to push Flack towards Morgan.

"Aiden!" He hissed in alarm as he managed to stop himself before he crashed into Morgan. Again.

"Oh. Well, clumsy me again!" Aiden said, unrepentantly. "Oh, Morgan,"

Flack decided that he did not like the look on Aiden's face.

"Flack has something to say to you," she said and walked off. Flack stood before Morgan, palms wet with perspiration. "Yes?" she asked, looking at him expectantly. He began to search for something to say, but by the time he'd thought of something, Danny walked by. "Hey, Flack! What are you doin' here? Isn't it your day off or somethin'?"

Flack hung his head and grimaced. He looked up again to see Morgan's fairly amused expression and he could only smile sheepishly. She took out a notepad from the pocket of her lab coat, jotted something down and tore out a page. "Here," she said simply and walked back to the AV lab. Before looking at what she had written, Flack made sure that Danny was out of sight first. He broke into a big smile after reading it – Morgan had given him her cell phone number and email address, with a short note saying "text message or email me". It was then that Flack realized that Morgan had sensed that he was having trouble speaking to her face-to-face, which was why she had suggested a non-verbal kind of communication. He slapped his forehead in exasperation. Great, he said to himself.

Morgan walked back to the AV lab with an amused smile on her face. She had absolutely no idea that Flack was smitten with her, because the impression she got was that Flack was probably uncomfortable around females he didn't know well. If she only knew…

She received a text message from Flack almost immediately.

"_Sorry I behaved like such a dork. If Aiden hadn't sabotaged me I probably wouldn't have been in such a fluster. I hope you don't think that I'm weird or whatever. Flack."_

He's trying to tell me that he's not gay I guess, Morgan thought to herself, feeling very much amused. The Flack she knew was so much different than how Danny and Aiden had described him to be. But suddenly, she had a feeling why. "I hope it's not because he likes me," she mumbled to herself.

"Someone's in love with you? Who?" came a voice by the door.

"Danny! Will you please knock or somethin'?"

"Sorry. So who's the guy?"

"Why do I have to tell you? So that you can go rough the guy up?" Morgan said defiantly.

This wasn't new, she'd had a couple of boyfriends before, in high school, and she only got to go out with them primarily because they had passed Danny's 'test'. If Danny hadn't scrutinized nearly every boy who asked her out, she would probably have a couple more. Usually she would just have a bickering match with him about that, but deep down inside she knew why. He didn't want her to end up with just any Tom, Dick or Harry – he wanted his sister to have the best she could. There was also another reason; Danny didn't want his sister to get to know people from the wrong crowd. He'd had his fair share of them when he was younger, and he would always regret that decision because he now knew that memories of those days would be back to haunt him at one time or another. Danny also made sure that Morgan knew nothing of that time in his youth, but he was wrong. Morgan may not know the full details of that time, but she knew enough – this was like a secret both siblings kept from each other.

"Of course not. Now tell who he is."

"You're a CSI, go figure it out yourself," Morgan said as she chased Danny out of her workspace. Maybe _you'll _give me the answers, she thought to herself.

* * *

As usual, please R & R! Let me know what you thought of this chapter, because I want to find out if Flack's feelings for Morgan were appropriately conveyed. And thanks for reading! 


	7. A Very Long Day

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything except my original character Morgan.

**Note #1: **Much thanks to my friend Maryann for her contribution on parts of this chapter. You're the best!

**Note #2: **This is a fairly long chapter, probably the longest that I'll write for this story, so please bear with me till the ending.

**Ep. references/spoilers: **#1.21 - "On The Job"

**_-Thanks to Becs for staying with me every step of the way! I'd give you a hug if you were near enough. LOL. The rest who reviewed my story are not forgotten...thanks everyone!-_

* * *

-Seven- **

Two months into the job, Morgan Messer felt that she was fitting in well. Gone were the initial stares and whispers that surrounded her each time she walked past her co-workers, who would go "That's Messer's sister" and other similar remarks.

On this day, however, she felt a strange sense of deja vu as she walked into the break room for a quick shot of coffee before starting work proper. The small group of lab techs in the break room stopped their chatter and stole fleeting looks at her and gave each other grim looks. Morgan brushed it off, thinking she'd misinterpreted the situation and made her way back to the AV lab. As she was walking through the hallways of the lab, that feeling that she was being watched surfaced again. She looked around and some people were even blatantly pointing their fingers at her. Morgan suppressed an urge to yell at those people and made it back to the AV lab without bursting an artery.

"Chad," she called just as the lab tech walked past the AV lab. He stopped in his tracks and tried to move on as if he hadn't heard her, but she'd stood up and pulled him into the lab.

"Is there something that the WHOLE lab knows that I don't know?" Morgan said as Chad looked at her nervously. "Something that's either about me or Danny."

"N-Nothing…really, there's nothing going on," he said, but Morgan wouldn't give up that easily. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and tried to get him to talk once more.

"Come on, Chad. You're the guy that people gossip to, because they think you don't have a big mouth, am I right?" she said, as Chad nodded slowly.

"So can you PLEASE tell me what's going on? I feel like they're about to bore holes into my body with their stares," Morgan pleaded as Chad remained tight-lipped on the matter.

"I'll buy you breakfast everyday for a week!" she announced. Chad shook his head.

"Two weeks? Three? A month?" Still, he shook his head. "Breakfast AND lunch for a week," Chad bargained and Morgan accepted. Whatever to make him talk, she thought, I'll find a way to get out of it later.

"Word is going around that your brother was involved in a shootout with another police officer during rush hour just now," he said as he braced himself for Morgan's outburst, but there was none. Chad turned to look at her, and saw only shock in her eyes.

"You're kidding, right? There's gotta be a mistake? Are you sure you got the right information? Maybe it wasn't Danny, maybe it was someone else. It can't be Danny!" Morgan kept repeating those words to herself, and Chad just slipped away before she could do anything else to him.

**XXX**

Morgan was pacing around the AV lab when Mac walked in, just close to pulling her hair out in frustration. She was desperate to know what had happened, but she knew that it wasn't a good time to call Danny and ask about it, so she decided to wait it out and see what happens next.

"Morgan…Morgan! You okay?" Mac placed a hand on her shoulder, which made her stop. "No, I'm not," she answered as Mac sat her down and slowly explained the situation to her.

He and Danny had been at a crime scene where a man was shot dead, Mac had told him to check out the rest of the apartment when another man dashed out of a closet and they gave chase. Danny chased him into a subway station and a shootout occurred. Danny fired two shots, one of which probably hit the suspect and he went down. When the chaos died down, a uniformed officer examined the fallen suspect and found a NYPD police badge hanging from his neck. When Mac asked if he was the guy Danny was chasing, he confirmed it but couldn't be 100 percent sure. By protocol, in cases like this the IAB is called in to investigate but Mac managed to hold them off for 24 hours, until he completes the preliminary investigation.

"After that is done, the IAB will decide whether to prosecute pending the outcome of the investigation," he said to Morgan as she nodded in understanding.

"Where's Danny now?" she asked, visibly worried about her brother's well-being. Mac told her that Danny had sustained some minor injuries, and that he'd gone to the hospital for a check-up just to be sure. After hearing that Danny hadn't been seriously injured, Morgan seemed to relax a little since hearing the news and saw that Mac was holding an evidence bag in his hands. She took a closer look and spotted a mini tape recorder inside, and asked if Mac needed her to work on that.

He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Yes, but I can't let you do that."

Morgan was confused for a moment, but finally understood what Mac was trying to say. The tape recorder was evidence related to the shootout and her relationship with Danny meant that there was a conflict of interest, and she would not be allowed to handle any kind of evidence under her specialty as long as it pertained to the case. She nodded and said to Mac, "I understand, do I need to take a day off or something?" He replied that it would probably be a good idea for her to do so.

Before she left the AV lab, Mac reassured her that he would find out what really happened in that subway station, and even offered to walk her out of the building. "Thanks, Mac. I really appreciate it," she said as they were making their way out amid all the stares she was receiving from the rest of the lab. When they got to the entrance, Morgan saw Flack standing at the front door. Mac then instructed Flack to take her back home and make sure that nobody bothers her, not even reporters or IAB. When she asked Mac why, he answered that she does not need to be embroiled in this mess. "We'll get this figured out," he said.

"You okay?" Flack asked in concern as he drove Morgan home in his car. She turned to him, her face grim. "Do I _look_ like I'm okay? My brother may have killed someone today!" she exclaimed and the both of them fell into an uncomfortable silence. After a long while, Morgan broke the tension by apologizing for her outburst and Flack just gave her a reassuring smile.

Flack dropped Morgan off outside her apartment building and was about to accompany her upstairs when his cell phone rang. "You need to get back to work, I can go up myself," Morgan said and made him go back into his car.

"You sure you're gonna be okay?"

"What are you, Danny's clone? I'll be fine. Go!"

After making Morgan promise to call him if anything came up, Flack reluctantly climbed back into his car and drove off. Morgan stood on the curb till Flack's car was out of sight and walked into the apartment building. "Hopefully he's right and Danny's already back home," she muttered to herself as she unlocked the door to the apartment she shared with Danny. She sighed sadly as the door opened to reveal nothing but their furniture, and no Danny. "Where are you?" Morgan whispered softly. She plonked herself onto the couch and tried to take her mind off the morning's events by watching TV. She began flipping channel after channel until she decided to call Danny up and see how he was doing. Morgan dialled his cell phone twice, but he didn't answer. She left him a voice message on the third try.

"Danny, if you hear this message, call me ASAP. I'm worried about you."

She sat around a while more when Flack called. "I got in touch with the hospital, Danny left without getting a check up from the doctor. Just wanted to fill you in," he said. "Thanks for telling me, Flack, although I don't think Danny will be heading home anytime soon." Morgan replied, because she knew her brother all too well, Danny tended to stay away from home for a while if he got into trouble or something bad happened. "He's not even picking up my calls," she added.

"Don't worry, okay? Mac, Aiden and I, we'll get this all figured out. In the meantime I'll try and talk to Danny if I see him, alright?"

**XXX**

A few hours went by without any news of Danny, and Morgan had given up trying to get him to answer his cell phone. She had called Aiden a while earlier to find out how the investigation was going, but the latter wouldn't go into details, just that they were trying their best to help Danny. Morgan understood that Aiden was not at liberty to tell her everything, and left the issue at that. However, her mind was nearly going into overdrive, thinking of the various possibilities that could have happened, and most importantly Danny's whereabouts. Aiden had mentioned that he had gone back to the crime scene but they didn't have a chance to talk and she hadn't heard from Danny since.

Morgan was getting increasingly frustrated by the second, and decided to do something to de-stress – doing housework. She put in a Linkin Park CD into the hi-fi system at the living room, raised up the volume and started cleaning her room. About half an hour had gone by when Morgan thought she'd heard a thumping sound coming from the front door, but shrugged it off because the music was too loud for her to even think straight, which she liked.

"_I've become so numb…"_

Morgan sang along to the current song playing when suddenly she heard a loud crash coming from the front door. She stopped whatever she was doing, and strained her ears to hear what was going on. Nothing. Morgan headed for the living room to turn off the music…and saw her front door wide open. She took a closer look and was shocked to see that the lock was damaged, like someone had battered their way in.

"What the hell…?" she muttered to herself and reached for the hi-fi remote control. Just as she turned off the music, she heard footsteps coming from the kitchen.

Morgan felt her blood froze, as she began to pray that it wasn't a burglar. "Morgan?"

She heard a familiar voice call out her name and immediately felt relieved.

"Flack!"

She turned around and saw him coming out of the kitchen, his gun drawn. "What are you doing?" she asked, backing away from him as he came toward her with his gun still in his hand. "Um, you mind putting away your gun? It's freaking me out,"

"Oh! Sorry for that," he apologized, as he placed his gun back in the holster at his waist. Morgan pointed to the door and asked if he was the one who did the damage. Flack smiled sheepishly as he nodded.

"You kicked open my door! Why?"

The loud music had somewhat disorientated her for a bit and she went over to the couch to sit down as the ringing in her ears began to fade. She motioned for Flack to sit next to her and he promptly complied.

"I've been buzzing the door bell for the past five minutes and I got worried. So…" Flack trailed off as his eyes shifted to the door.

"Right. You're gonna have to pay to fix it, you know," Morgan said seriously and Flack nodded earnestly. "Of course, I'm so sorry," he said. Despite feeling frustrated for the most part of the day, Morgan couldn't help but laugh at Flack's flustered expression, while he could only rub the back of his neck with an embarrassed smile.

"So…why did you come here?" Morgan asked after she stopped laughing.

"Just wanted to see if Danny came home," Flack replied, his expression worried.

"You've seen Danny? Something happened?"

Flack told her that he'd met with Danny in a diner, a couple of hours ago, and they had a talk – which ended on a bad note. He related their conversation to Morgan, who listened intently. Flack's intention was purely to show his concern for his co-worker and friend but backfired badly. He could tell that Danny was having a hard time dealing with the knowledge that he might have shot and killed a fellow police officer. Danny admitted that, and even said that he felt sick to his stomach. Their conversation probably went south the moment Flack mentioned if Danny had talked to a lawyer that Mac recommended; he started to become defensive saying that he didn't feel that need to talk to the guy.

When Flack tried to reassure Danny that he, Aiden and Mac were doing their best to help him, he got upset and professed that he felt alone and that no one seemed to have his back. Danny even said that Mac was worried about the reputation of the department, not him. "You're wrong, he's got your back." Flack had said.

"Take it easy, Danny."

"Take it easy! You think I can just shut this all down? Why didn't anybody step up to me and say 'Danny I've got your back'?"

"Don't hang yourself, Danny."

"You wanna know what this feels like? It feels like I'm already being hung!"

With that, Danny slammed his fist on the table and stormed off. Flack had to get back to work and had just gotten some time to come by and see if Danny was around, he was worried about him. Flack glanced at Morgan and although she been really quiet, her eyes betrayed her calm demeanor. The problem was, Flack couldn't really tell if she was upset or angry.

"What about the investigation? Did Danny really kill that cop?" she asked, and Flack replied that they had made some breakthrough in the case. Although he could not share all the details with her, it had been confirmed that Danny was not the one who fired the shot that killed the undercover cop. Morgan seemed to relax then and shed some tears of relief. "Oh, thank God!" she exclaimed and suddenly leaned over, giving Flack a big hug. "Thank you," she said when she pulled away from him. Morgan probably thought nothing of that hug, but Flack was just a _little_ step closer to being on cloud nine.

"Uh, thank me for what?"

"For showing your concern and doing your best to solve the case," Morgan replied, smiling up at Flack, who returned the smile. "Maybe I'll give you a treat some time," she said and his heart sang. "Sure," Flack replied as coolly as possible.

Flack's cell phone rang just then, and he flipped it open to answer. "Flack."

"Aiden? What's up?" Morgan figured that Aiden had something to discuss with Flack, so she stood up to go to the kitchen to get Flack and herself a drink, and at the same time, giving him privacy to talk.

"He did what!" came Flack's surprised voice from the living room. When Morgan returned with coffee for him, she noticed his grim expression and voiced her concern.

"Something wrong, Flack?"

"N-Nothing," he replied, which obviously implied that something was definitely up.

Morgan stared him down the way she always did when she was trying to make Danny talk, and Flack caved in way earlier than Danny ever did. "Alright, I'll talk."

"The preliminary report has been completed, so I guess there's no harm in telling you. Aiden just told me that Danny is officially cleared, but that may change."

"What? Why?"

"Danny went to IAB's Chief Hillbourne to give his statement before Mac could hand in the report. If the IAB decides to pursue the case, the report is virtually useless in defending Danny," Flack finished, as Morgan's expression went from shock to anger.

"You alright? You look like you're about to punch someone in the face," he said cautiously, wishing silently that she wasn't about to do that to him.

"Yeah, but you won't be the person I'd punch," she answered.

"Um, maybe I should go, I've got some loose ends to tie up in the case," Flack stood up and went over to the front door. Before he left, he promised to get someone to fix the lock and that he'd definitely pay for the damage.

"I was joking about that, Flack. But since you offered, I guess I should thank you!" she said with an impish smile as he left. But somehow, Flack sensed that she was trying to hide her anger within herself.

**XXX**

Danny returned home hours later, when night had already fallen. Morgan was finishing up her dinner when the doorbell rang. "Morgan, open up." he called, as she stepped into the living room. Danny was unable to get in with his own key because Flack had just sent someone over to fix the lock about an hour earlier. Morgan opened the door for her brother, but stood at the entrance without letting him in. "Morgan, why did you change the locks?" he asked, and she remained silent, her gaze fixed on him.

"I thought you weren't gonna come back," she said spitefully, as Danny pushed past her and sat down on the couch.

"Well, I'm back now aren't I?" He snapped at her, and Morgan inhaled for another comeback.

"Should I thank you for your consideration?"

"You're welcome." Danny retorted.

"What is wrong with you?" Morgan asked.

"I've had a very bad day, Morgan."

"Obviously."

"Look, I'd like it if we didn't bicker, okay? I wanna be alone." Danny suddenly said as he took a deep breath and massaged his temple. Morgan remained silent though her gaze was still fixed on him.

"What do you want?" he asked stonily, when he couldn't take her silence any longer.

"How did it go? I heard the preliminary report's out."

"How did you know?"

"I have spies."

Danny eyed her suspiciously.

"The IAB is not going on with the investigation, it's over. Satisfied?"

His answer was far less than satisfactory.

"Yeah, I guess," Morgan replied coolly instead. She turned to return to her room, but stopped mid-way and turned around to face her brother.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" she asked beseechingly.

Danny sat still on the couch and didn't seem to react to her question. If he understood what she meant, he was doing a good job of pretending not to understand.

"I'm not doing _anything _to myself," he answered, and wished she would just go back to her room and leave him alone.

"There's something else going on, I can feel it," Morgan said perceptively, and Danny groaned inwardly.

"Think whatever you want." Clearly, he was itching for a fight even when he insisted he was 'tired' of bickering.

"Danny!" Morgan's voice raised a notch.

"Dammit, what do you want now?"

"Don't talk to me like that!"

Danny's silence allowed Morgan to go on. Taking a deep breath, she tried to be as reasonable as she could.

"Danny, don't talk like you don't know what I mean. You weren't completely exonerated, the matter has just been swept under the rug, to be taken out again when something similar happens in future."

"Morgan, which part of _'I wanna be alone'_ do you not understand?" Danny said frostily, but it was a lost case as his sister was as stubborn and persistent as him.

"This wouldn't have happened if you had trusted Mac to help you."

"_Trust_?" Danny's sudden snarl of the word shocked and bewildered Morgan at the same time.

"Please." He said acidly. "Don't talk to me about trust right now."

Morgan frowned.

"Why?"

Silence.

"_Look at me_, Danny."

Her brother did so reluctantly, and she continued.

"I know what you said to Flack in the diner earlier. You know what the ironic thing is? All of us have your back, Danny. Do you even need to ask? If you'd returned my calls, I would've told you the same thing. But you chose to ignore my calls. Aren't you even bothered that I may be worried about you?"

"I'm sorry. I should have called."

More silence.

"Danny. What is going on with you? Why the sudden lack of trust with Mac and –"

"Nothing is happening!" Danny suddenly roared, springing up from his seat and paced around wildly, and Morgan cringed at his outburst.

"Morgan," Danny bit out his words slowly. "I'm in no mood to talk right now."

"You work with these people on a daily basis, and one day you may need them to save your life. Remember you said to Flack that you felt very alone in this whole thing? Well, if you don't learn to trust the people around you, one day you really _are_ going to be alone."

"I already _AM _alone!" Danny growled, and Morgan frowned.

"What…?"

"Go away, Morgan. Just…go." Danny said at last, and sank down wearily onto the couch.

"I'm your sister, Danny. Your flesh and blood."

Her voice was thick with tears of hurt and confusion, and it disturbed Danny greatly.

"I don't care what you think, but you can't do this to me. I deserve to know what's going on in your life just as you've made it a point to know all about mine."

There was no anger in her tone now, nor was she upset at his harsh words. Instead, there was a tone of resignation, which pierced and hurt him more than he could admit.

"I'm your sister." Morgan said again, sounding as though she was trying to convince herself, and Danny could feel the heave of emotions whirl within him.

"Morgan, I – "

The only response he got was the slamming of her door as she went into her room.

The night wore on, and tried as she might, Morgan just couldn't fall asleep. She tossed and turned in bed thinking about what she had said to Danny earlier, worrying that she might have been too harsh in her words. She got out of bed and went to Danny's room, but he wasn't there. Morgan found him sitting on the couch, looking like he hadn't left it at all. As she approached him, she noticed that his eyes were red and swollen like he'd been crying. Morgan sat down next to Danny and embraced her brother. "I'm sorry, I was outta line," she apologized.

"No, you were right. I need to learn to trust others again, including you. I think it's time you knew something. I've wanted to tell you this many times, but I just couldn't get it out, I was afraid of what you'd think of me."

* * *

Phew! Took me quite a long time to finish this chapter...7 pages in MS Word. Haha. 

Please R & R andlet me know your thoughts on this chapter. Your comments will be duly noted!

AidenBurn, I've taken note of your comments (that I'm going a little fast on the Flack/Morgan thing) and I'll try to work on that on subsequent chapters. Please stick around for more, guys!


	8. Revelations?

_Sorry for the slow update!_

**Disclaimer**: I only own this story and the original character Morgan.

**Note #1**: I wrote about Danny's past as convincingly as I could. I intentionally kept certain details vague so that you readers can do some imagination on your own. (wink)

**Note #2**: My dear friend Maryann also contributed some ideas to this chapter. Thank you!

**Ep. references/spoilers**: #1.13 - "Tanglewood".

* * *

**-Eight-**

Morgan was no psychic, but she had a feeling she knew what Danny was going to say to her. On the other hand, Danny was expecting her to jump up and ask "What is it?" but she didn't, instead, she just sat there looking at him with a calm expression on her face. It was almost as if she had been waiting for Danny to tell her whatever it was he wanted to say for a long, long time. "Aren't you at all curious about what I'm about to say?" he asked.

"I am, but I've had my suspicions for a while now," Morgan answered. "I'm just waiting for the day you finally decide to talk," she added.

Danny stared at his little sister in amazement as he lamented, "And yet I thought I'd managed to keep that period of my youth secret from you."

"I'm your sister. I know you." Morgan grinned at him, thus easing the tension that was as thick as a wall earlier.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Are you gonna tell me your big revelation or what? If not, I'm gonna go back to bed," she faked a yawn as she made a move to stand up. Danny held onto her arm which stopped her from doing so, and gazed at her with his deep, blue eyes. "Morgan." She swallowed hard at his serious tone, and decided that it was time she stopped playing the fool. Danny had something important to say to her, and he needed her complete attention.

"Sorry."

Although the atmosphere had become serious once more, she couldn't help but chuckle when she heard a faint rumbling noise coming from Danny. "Come on, I'll fix ya something to eat. Wouldn't want you to become delirious from hunger and start talking nonsense," Morgan said as she pulled Danny to the dining table. She proceeded into the kitchen to ransack the shelves for one of those microwave dinners that Danny 'favors', and popped it into the microwave. Morgan then joined him at the dining table and sat facing him, her hands placed beneath her chin. Danny took a few deep breaths as he tried to think of words to say, but nothing came out of his mouth for a long time. The microwave oven buzzed, and Morgan got up to retrieve the dinner box from inside. She set it down in front of Danny along with cutlery, who sat staring at the piping hot lasagna without moving an inch. "Want some beer?" Morgan asked, and got out a couple of bottles from the refrigerator, as Danny eyed her apprehensively.

"What? You can have all the bottles to yourself, I'm not having any," she defended herself and Danny seemed to relax a little. He popped open the bottle-cap and took a few sips before taking his first bite out of the lasagna. Morgan kept her gaze on him the whole time, while he would look up at her and down at his food again every few seconds.

"Don't know where to start?" she suddenly asked, and Danny nearly choked on the beer.

"Well, for starters, you could tell me about your trust issues." Morgan folded her arms and leaned back on the chair as she waited for him to open his mouth.

"I guess it's because I look up to Mac as a father figure," Danny began. "And I was seeking approval from Mac, something that I never got from dear old Dad."

Mentioning the siblings' father dredged up vague memories for Morgan, who could hardly remember seeing him around the house ever since their mother passed away. Danny had applied for legal guardianship of Morgan when he turned 21, but he had nearly cut off all contact with their father a few years before that. The man had come looking for them a few times over the years, but Danny refused to let him into the house or even take a look at Morgan, because it was too late. The damage had been done, and Danny was never going to forgive their father for neglecting them after their mother's death, nor was he going to let him back into the siblings' lives, not after everything that has happened.

"I promise you, I will always be here for the both of you."

That was what the senior Messer had said shortly after the siblings' mother had died, rather suddenly.

"Dad promised he'd always be there for us, and look what happened – he was never around when we needed him!" Danny started to take larger gulps of the beer, and Morgan was worried that he might break down and cry – or worse, get drunk and pass out. She shifted her position to sit next to him and began to rub his back comfortingly. He seemed determined to get everything out of his system that day, and Morgan could only try and be a good listener, which was what he needed.

"Is that why you respect and distrust Mac at the same time?" Morgan asked, and Danny nodded. She finally understood why he reacted adversely to her words earlier, when she asked about his lack of faith in Mac. Her brother was afraid that history might repeat itself. Danny was, in a way, preparing himself emotionally for the day when Mac might do the same thing their father did – desert him at his time of need. Morgan had always thought of her brother as a very strong person, but today, it seemed like he was only holding it all inside only to let it all out when the dam broke.

"Oh, Danny…" she sighed, placing her hand over Danny's, as if giving him strength to go on. Morgan sensed that his issues with the element of trust did not just end with their father; there must have been something else that happened – something far more serious.

"Remember how Dad was never around when we needed him?" he suddenly asked, and Morgan nodded, adding, "Yeah, and during the few times he was actually around, all I could remember was the yelling matches you guys had."

"Yeah," Danny scoffed. "I used to hate him to the point where I'd do anything just to piss him off."

"Anything?"

"Yeah, anything." Danny started to look pensive and Morgan started to wonder about what he was capable of doing to 'piss Dad off'.

"I got to know a group of kids playing baseball around the time I entered high school, they were obviously bad news but I continued to hang out with them, knowing that that would really make our old man pissed at me."

Somehow, Morgan felt that her brother was not only trying to spite their father on purpose; he was also trying to get their father to pay attention to them. Danny had probably felt deep down that if he got into enough trouble, their father might finally realize how much his children needed him, but it did not work. "Dear old Dad was too busy with his own life that he didn't even care."

_Danny had just gotten to know a bunch of kids who claimed that they were part of a gang. He had not taken them seriously until one day they showed him their tattoos, which consisted of the word "Tanglewood" as well as an 'in' date – the date you joined. "Cool, eh? You can get one too, if you become part of us." The leader had said jokingly. It was then that Danny began to realize that perhaps befriending them was a bad idea. However, he didn't distance himself from them. He would realize later that his actions were partly because of the lonely kid inside of him who longed for his father's love. His mother had died suddenly a few years earlier, and since then his father has immersed himself in work. He'd stay out till the wee hours when Danny and his sister Morgan were fast asleep, then leave the house before both of them woke up – either that or he would not return home for days on end. However, as time went on Danny began to grasp his father's 'patterns' and would sometimes wait till the early morning for his father to return._

"Do you know that Morgan has been asking for you, Dad? In case you forgot, her birthday was two days ago. She can't even understand why Mom is gone, and now she's starting to think that you don't want her. How can you do this to her! She's only three, for God's sake!" That was Danny's first confrontation with his father, at age 13, about half a year after his mother's death.

Such was the basis of his confrontations with his father, often centered around his sister, because Danny doted on her so much. He hated their father for neglecting them and denying them a normal childhood. All Danny wanted was to be able to have a sense of belonging – and a family.

It was also this desire that made Danny step into forbidden waters. With those 'friends' of his, he almost felt that he was a part of a real family. He was so blinded by the conflicting love-hate feelings he had for his father and the desire of a family that Danny did what most people thought to be unthinkable – he joined a gang. Not just any gang, but the infamous Tanglewood Boys. They prided themselves as being the new generation, that the old 'values' of the mafia were outdated. They were ruthless and capable of doing anything, sometimes just for the sake of some thrills. 

"By the time I realized that I'd screwed up real bad, it was too late. I was in too deep, it was obvious that they weren't gonna let me out of the gang that easily." Danny finished, after recounting the events leading up to him joining the Tanglewood Boys. Morgan had heard of them, they had been in the news some months ago for being suspected of beating a young man to death. Last she remembered, the charges against them seemed to have been dropped. Morgan shuddered at the memory. If they could beat someone to death, I can't imagine what they did when Danny wanted out of the gang, she thought to herself. Danny wasn't the CSI on the case, she knew, because he was busy with a hit-and-run at about the same time then. She remembered that because Danny came home grumbling one night about the victim's husband who smashed his head into the glass panel of the morgue's viewing room after seeing his wife's body.

Suddenly, Morgan was afraid to know what was next. It was common knowledge that once you were in a gang, you couldn't get out – alive. Most who try to get out either end up dead or on their way out. Since Danny obviously survived, he must have suffered a lot trying to leave the gang, and Morgan dreaded to know how that went down. But she knew that Danny was going to have to come clean with her, if he wanted to be able to trust her completely.

"So how did you get out?" she asked. Danny started taking deeper breaths and more beer, and staring blankly into the space. He began to wear a tight expression on his face and it was obvious to Morgan that he was reliving the painful memories.

"I want out, Sassone. I mean it."

"Who do you take us for, huh? I decide if you're in or out, Messer." 

"I'm walkin' outta here and you can't stop me." 

"Yeah? You try walkin' out right now. We'll see what will happen to your –"

Danny sat up, straight as a rod. His eyes seem to be watery with unshed tears as the memories of his unsavory past fleeted by in his mind.

"Danny? You okay?"

At an instant, Danny stood up from the chair and bolted to his room without a single word. Morgan trailed behind him, puzzled at his sudden behavior. She reached his bedroom door just as he'd slammed it shut and rapped on the door. "Danny, what's wrong?" she asked, as Morgan pleaded with her brother to open his door, but to no avail. Realizing that Danny wasn't going to emerge from his room anytime soon, she bowed her head in disappointment and turned to go into her own room.

Despite the surprising personal revelation about Danny's past, Morgan felt herself drifting off to sleep immediately after she plopped onto her bed. She'd long suspected that Danny had been involved in something shady in the past and perhaps she felt somewhat relieved now that she knew the whole truth and needn't play guessing games anymore.

Morgan had been in such a deep slumber that she didn't even stir when Danny came into her room a while later. Standing next to her bed, he watched as she slept peacefully, her chest rising and falling with slow and steady breaths. Morgan stirred a little when he stroked her hair gently, but was otherwise oblivious to her brother's presence. Danny smiled as he remembered that she had always been a heavy sleeper, then bent down to kiss her forehead.

"I'm sorry, Morgan. I just didn't know how to break it to you…"

* * *

I had quite a hard time coming with the Sassone/Danny exchange...I was saying to myself "think tough". Lol.

As usual, thank you for reading and please leave a review if you can! And please don't kill me for letting Danny stop his revelation halfway. Hehe.


	9. Flashbacks and a Dinner

**-Nine- **

"_Morgan! Are you home?"_

"Coming, Mrs. Johnson!"

A 9-year-old Morgan opened the door for her next-door neighbor, who walked into the apartment carrying her 3-year-old son.

"Hey, little guy," she waved to the boy, who waved back happily.

"Morgan, your brother called. He'll be back pretty late today, so he asked if I could let you sleep at my place tonight."

"Did he say why?"

"I'm afraid not, dear. Come on, let's get your stuff and then you can help me with dinner!"

Morgan did not suspect anything at first, because this was not the first time she'd had to spend the night at her neighbor's place. Danny had entered college on a baseball scholarship and worked part-time to support Morgan; sometimes he had to work late and didn't want his sister to be alone at home, so he would ask their neighbor to baby-sit Morgan. Mrs. Johnson loved having Morgan around her house and never accepted Danny's money even when he'd said that he would pay her to look after Morgan. In a way, she was helping the woman, because Morgan would help to watch her young son while Mrs. Johnson went about her daily chores.

Just as Morgan was about to lock her front door, a uniformed police officer approached her.

"Are you Morgan Messer, little lady?" He was wearing a grim expression, and Morgan became a little nervous.

"What is this about, Sir?" Mrs. Johnson stepped in between them as she held onto Morgan's hand.

"Ma'am, I'm from the NYPD. I know the little lady's brother and I need to take her to him right now," he explained.

"Danny? Has something happened to him?" she asked, and the officer pulled Mrs. Johnson aside and they spoke privately.

"Okay, we'll follow you there in my car," she said hurriedly as she popped into her apartment for a short moment and emerged with her car keys.

"Morgan, lock your front door. We gotta go."

"Where are we going? Where's Danny?" 

**XXX **

"…earth to Morgan!"

Morgan was brought back to reality and found Chad in close proximity to her face, looking at her intently. She waved him off like she would a fly and snapped, "Get out of my face, Chad."

"Oooh, touchy," he retorted, and stuck out his palm toward her.

"What?"

"Remember? Breakfast and lunch for a week?" Chad replied gleefully.

Morgan glared at Chad for a moment before reaching into her lab coat pocket for her wallet and pulled out a couple of dollar bills before thrusting it into Chad's open palm. "Here. This should cover you for both breakfast and lunch. Now leave me alone."

"Be happy to. Bye!"

Things were a little slow in the AV lab today, and Morgan hated it because the free time allowed her mind to wander. She and Danny hadn't spoken since last night, when he had abruptly ended the heart-to-heart talk with her. He'd even left for work early today, and Morgan woke up to a note stuck on her bedside table.

"_Breakfast is on the table."  
_  
That was all Danny wrote on the Post-It note.

Morgan's mind had wandered to an incident about ten years ago before she was rudely interrupted by Chad and his floppy blonde hair thrust right in front of her face. She wondered if whatever happened then was a direct or indirect result of Danny's involvement with the notorious Tanglewood Boys.

_Danny awoke to find himself lying in a hospital bed, with a police officer sitting next to him. His face was momentarily unfamiliar to Danny, who was still feeling groggy from being unconscious for at least two hours. "It's you," he said weakly, as the police officer nodded. He sat up in bed with the help of the officer, and took a good look at himself. The extent of his injuries prompted Danny to wonder why he wasn't in worse shape than he was now. He glanced at his right wrist in a cast and tried to move it, failing miserably. Instead, he grimaced in pain as he looked at his friend and asked, "Can I still play baseball?"_

The sport meant everything to Danny. He had played baseball nearly all his life, ever since he was big enough to handle a bat. He'd played in Little Leagues and school teams, and his passion and talent for baseball was what earned him the scholarship to college. A frightening thought flashed in his mind. What if he couldn't play baseball anymore? What else could he do?

The officer hesitated for a moment, and Danny knew the answer. His broken right wrist would recover, but never fully enough for him to resume playing baseball.

He wanted to tell Danny that his sister was waiting outside for him, but decided to let Danny have some time alone before letting Morgan in to see her brother. "I'll be outside…" he said, and slowly closed the door.

Danny lay back down on the bed, trying hard not to let his tears flow. This is no time to cry, he thought fiercely. Never say never. Who knows, with a lot of physiotherapy my wrist may one day be strong enough to let me play baseball again, I've gotta be positive.

Just then, he heard a minor commotion outside his room.

"Danny needs to rest, you can go in later, alright?"

"No! I wanna see him now!" 

He recognized the second voice as that of his sister's, and wondered if it was the officer who brought her here. Morgan's yelling paid off, and the officer relented. Seconds later, she burst through the door and straight into her brother's arms.

"That jerk wouldn't let me in!" Danny shot her a look which Morgan interpreted as "No cursing" and revised her sentence.

"Sorry, HE wouldn't let me in," she said, but not without muttering under her breath, "that jerk."

Morgan gave him the biggest bear hug she could give with her small arms and even that made his body hurt. The pain showed in his expression as Morgan backed away from him.

"Did I hurt you, Danny?" she asked worriedly. 

"Yeah, a little." Danny replied as he groaned with every little movement he made.

"What happened?" Morgan asked, as her eyes began to well up with tears and stroked Danny's broken wrist gently.

"Just a fight, nothing to worry about." Danny replied simply, not wanting his sister to know the awful truth about himself. He'd nearly added "sweetie" at the end of his sentence, but stopped as he recalled how Morgan disliked him to call her "those mushy nicknames". His sister was growing up faster than he wanted her to, and he wasn't sure if he liked that very much. 

**XXX **

Aiden had arrived for work a tad earlier than usual and found Danny sitting at his desk, staring into space.

"Hey. You okay?" she asked, concerned for her good friend, because Aiden hadn't had to chance to have a good talk with him since the events of the day before.

"Yeah." Danny replied offhandedly.

Sensing that he did not want to talk, Aiden replied just as simply. "Good."

"Mac says no field work for the next few days," Danny said dejectedly. Knowing that yesterday's events dampened his spirits greatly, Aiden tried to cheer him up with the promise of having some fun after work, but he only shook his head with the reply, "Nah, I'll pass."

"Okay, another time then." She would need to have a talk with Morgan and Flack, to see how they could help cheer Danny up. Aiden rarely saw Danny like this, not since she'd joined the lab a couple of years ago. She received a call from Detective Thacker about a robbery suspected to be an inside job and left Danny by himself after getting her kit together to go to the crime scene.

Moments after Aiden left, Danny saw Morgan walk past the room while talking with Chad. She seemed to notice him, but did not acknowledge him. Usually, he would have called out to her but with how things ended last night, Danny thought it best to let things cool a little first. Besides, he wasn't exactly ready to continue last night's tense conversation. However, he got up from his desk and followed after them when a few moments had lapsed. Danny had no idea why he did that. He watched Morgan make her way to the AV lab and returned to his desk, where he did more spacing out.

Detective Don Flack walked into the crime lab about lunchtime, hoping to catch Danny if he was around. Aiden had told him that Mac ordered him not go into the field for the next few days, and deduced that Danny must be out of his mind with boredom by now. As much as Danny liked lab work, he could never stand staying in the lab all day without getting out at all. Flack decided that he was going to be as normal as possible, without all the "are you okay?" talk that Danny must have heard a thousand times by now.

Flack poked his head into Danny's workspace and found his desk vacant. He then made his way to the CSI break room. On his way there, he spotted Danny standing at a corner, some distance away from the break room, looking at something or someone in the room. Not wanting to disrupt anything, Flack quietly walked over to him as he followed Danny's line of vision.

Danny was looking at his sister, who seemed to be having a jolly chat with a lab tech whose name Flack had troubling recalling at the moment.

"Hey Danny," he said, and Danny nearly jumped in shock. "Geez, Flack."

"Sorry. Something going on with you and Morgan?"

"Nothing. Why?"

"Something is up. Why else would you stand here instead of going over to talk to her?" Flack countered, as Danny sighed.

"We sorta had an argument last night, didn't end well."

Flack got the feeling that Danny was unwilling to elaborate further and decided to just leave it at that. After all, whatever happened had to be really personal, and although the two men were close friends, Flack knew better than to probe.

His eyes flitted involuntarily over to Morgan, who was now laughing heartily at something that lab tech had said. Damn, what's his name again, Flack thought to himself. He sincerely hoped that there was nothing romantic between the two, although it was quite clear to the average person that Chad Willingham wasn't Morgan's cup of tea.

"You lookin' at my sister?" Danny asked suddenly. And with his thick New York accent, it sounded very much like a threat to Flack at this very moment. He swallowed hard as he tried to answer as casually as possible.

"Nah, just wondering if that lab tech…" Flack struggled with recalling that guy's name. " Chad? Has a thing for Morgan or somethin'," he finished, as he looked over to Danny for any signs that he caught on to Flack's lie. Luckily for him, Danny didn't seem to suspect a thing.

" Chad? Nah, he doesn't have a thing for her. Told me himself," Danny said, and Flack tried to conceal his great, big sigh of relief.

Truthfully, Flack still did not know exactly if he was in love with Morgan or not. He just knew that he was incapable of taking his eyes off her each time she came into his field of vision, and that he would transform into this geek, like he was trying to impress the most beautiful girl in school. Yes, Morgan was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her intense blue eyes, perfectly-shaped nose, defined cheekbones and long brown hair, with a strong personality to boot, she was practically the epitome of the perfect woman in Flack's eyes. Speaking of eyes, he was momentarily jolted back to reality from his daydream when he remembered how much Morgan's eyes resembled her brother's. He knew how protective Danny was of Morgan, what would become of him if Danny found out that his good friend had the hots for his little sister? Flack chose to push that burning question to the back of his mind and that he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

Flack cleared his throat and asked, "Er, how do you know he's not lying?"

Danny shot him a look and replied, "What kind of a crime scene investigator would I be if I couldn't even tell if someone's lying or not?"

"Right."

"Besides, I don't think Morgan fancies guys like Chad," Danny said confidently, his arms folded in front of his chest.

Ya think she fancies guys like me? Flack wondered to himself.

Just as Danny finished his sentence, Morgan spotted the two of them and walked over.

"Hey Flack," she greeted him with a smile, and Flack prayed hard that he wasn't smiling his goofy smile.

"Hey Danny." Morgan said tentatively, as if she wasn't sure if Danny wanted to talk to her or not. Her brother returned the greeting with an uneasy smile and quickly excused himself. Obviously, Danny was still trying to avoid her after what had happened the night before. He was probably afraid that she might ambush at work to find out why he reacted the way he did last night, Morgan guessed.

"So, what are you doing here?" she asked Flack, trying to bring the atmosphere back to normal.

"I originally wanted to ask Danny if he wanted to go to lunch together, but…" Flack trailed off as they both glanced at Danny's departing figure.

The two of them stood opposite each other in awkward silence. He was searching for the right words to say, whereas Morgan didn't feel like talking much after that uneasy moment with Danny.

It was Morgan who broke the silence.

"Um, I think I owe you a treat. Are you gonna be busy tonight?"

Flack pretended to ponder for a bit, although he would obviously try to free up his evening even if he really was busy.

"I don't think so."

"Okay, I'll treat you to dinner tonight."

YES! Flack rejoiced to himself as he tried hard not to reveal his goofy smile.

"Sure!" He wondered if he sounded too happy.

"You decide where we're going, see you later… how's 7 P.M.?"

"Yeah, great. I'll pick you up," he replied, as Morgan turned to return to the AV lab.

Flack waited till Morgan was out of sight and earshot and he pumped one fist into the air as a sign of victory. He didn't know if he was in love, but he certainly did want to get to know that amazing girl better. Flack also began to wonder if he should tell Danny about his…little crush on Morgan. Better not, let's see how things go, he thought to himself. He had no wish to incur his friend's wrath, for Danny had told him about how he used to scrutinize his sister's suitors in the past.

"Why are you so happy?" came a voice from behind, which made Flack freeze for a moment.


	10. A Cliche Moment

**Disclaimer:** CSI:NY belongs to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer. I own nothing. Heh. **Note:** This chapter contains references to movies like the Batman films, "Spider-Man", "Sin City". _Sorry for being MIA for over a month! But I have more free time now, so expect to see more chapters in the weeks to come. Hope you guys out there are still interested in this! Btw, have you guys heard about the news that one main cast member is gonna be making an exit this coming season? I sure as hell hope it's false! I'm also praying hard that Danny or Flack won't be out...they're my fave characters of course. Hehe_ ENJOY! 

**-Ten-**

"Why are you so happy?"

Detective Don Flack turned around to find Aiden Burn squinting at him.

"Quit looking at me like that," Flack answered, trying to avoid answering her question for he knew that she wouldn't let him off easily.

"I will if you tell me why you have that goofy smile on your face."

Flack glared at Aiden and tried to walk away, but she surprised him by scooting in front of him and held her arms out wide.

"Uh-uh. You're not taking another step until you tell me _everything_," Aiden said, stressing the last word. Flack kept his gaze on her, as if saying, "No way" and Aiden raised an eyebrow in response as if to say, "Oh yeah?"

"Fine, don't tell me. I can pretty much guess anyway."

See, having a couple of crime scene investigators as friends may not be a good thing, they notice everything! Flack thought to himself. I hope Aiden won't go blabbing to Morgan about—

"You asked her out, didn't you?"

Aiden surprised Flack in mid-thought with her remark and he tried to appear nonchalant about it. "You're half-right," he answered.

She rubbed her chin with her thumb and index finger for a moment before she realized what he was implying.

"She asked you out!"

Flack gave a little nod in affirmation and found himself being smacked on the head by Aiden. "What did you do that for!"

"'Cuz you're too chicken to even ask her out," she replied off-handedly, as if smacking his head was the most normal thing in the world to do. Flack inhaled deeply and let out his breath with a _whoosh_.

"Well, FYI, Morgan asked me out to dinner because I helped out on Danny's case earlier, so it's not exactly a date, okay?" he said, attempting to clarify, if you will, that his impending dinner with Morgan was not considered a date, more like a thank-you dinner.

"Right." Aiden was obviously unconvinced. "You don't see her asking _me_ out to dinner, do you?"

Flack balled his fists together and waved it in front of her face to show his frustration. "Just stop sticking your nose into this, okay?"

She'd always liked to see him like this. Aiden's 'mission' accomplished, she made a face at him and sauntered off. "Hope your date goes fine!" she called as she went.

**XXX**

"Hey, you busy?"

Aiden popped her head into the AV lab, which surprised Morgan. "Um, no, not really. Why?" She then walked in and plonked herself into chair next to Morgan, saying, "I heard you asked Flack out to dinner today,"

One of Morgan's characteristics was her naivety within that independent soul of hers. "Yeah," was all she said, and Aiden knew that the girl doesn't realize that someone, a certain Don Flack was harboring a great, big crush on her.

"And how do you feel about that?" she asked, and Morgan seemed confused. "What do you mean? It's just a thank-you dinner,"

Pigs will fly before these two ever get together, Aiden thought to herself. Flack, she knew, had been single for a couple of years now, but it wasn't as if nobody was interested in him. He just hadn't met the right girl yet, and Morgan might just be the one for him. Aiden could see the sparkle in his eyes whenever he talked about her, and she hadn't seen that spark before, even when he was talking about other women in the past.

"Haven't you noticed that Flack seems to be really interested in you?" Aiden asked.

Morgan thought back to the day she'd given Flack her phone number and email address—when she had a slight notion that Flack might be interested in her. She had never thought much about the possibility, but now she was really beginning to worry. Would it seem like I feel the same way about him with the dinner invitation? Morgan thought to herself. It had been some time since she last had a relationship with someone—not that she was looking to get into one right now—and Danny's "protective instincts" only made things more difficult for her to meet the right guy.

"Are you sure?" was all Morgan could answer.

"Are you kidding? I've seen the way he looks at you whenever he's here. He's just too chicken to make a move," Aiden exclaimed.

"Flack's a good friend and I don't wish to see him get burnt. So if you think that he's not your type of guy, I suggest you tell him ASAP, okay?"

Her change in tone surprised Morgan, who nodded in response. Aiden then flashed a big smile, saying, "But it never hurts to try," before leaving the AV lab.

Left alone, Morgan began to think if it was such a good idea to go out with Flack that night. Now armed with the knowledge that Flack treats her as more than a friend, she was afraid that things might become awkward between during the night, especially since they haven't actually spent time alone together before. What if they had nothing in common to talk about? Just as Morgan was contemplating giving Flack a call to cancel dinner, Aiden's voice rang in her head. _"It never hurts to try…"_

You never know what may happen until you experience it, Morgan thought to herself.

**XXX**

When Morgan signed out of the lab promptly at seven o'clock, Flack was already waiting outside in his car. He honked his horn just as she'd stepped out the front door and she walked over and got into the car.

"Hey, you're early. Sorry to make you wait, you could've called me on my cell,"

"It's okay, I was only five minutes early," Flack answered, telling a little white lie. He'd actually been waiting in his car for the past half hour thinking if he should go inside and "escort" her out, but decided against it because it might seem a little over-the-top. After all, it's just a dinner, not a date, Flack muttered under his breath.

"Did you say something?"

"Uh—no, nothing."

"So, where shall we go?"

"How about a movie? There's a whole bunch of new movies out this week," Flack suggested. He'd thought about this while in the car earlier, maybe they could watch a horror movie, and he could comfort her when she gets spooked…or maybe a tear-jerker, so that he could offer her a shoulder to cry on…this isn't a date, Don, he reminded himself.

"Great! How about 'Batman Begins'?" Morgan suddenly exclaimed. "I've been waiting to watch that for a long time,"

Flack was a little thrown off by her sudden outburst that he stuttered a little in his reply. "Uh, s-sure, n-no problem!"

The truth is, Flack didn't think that Morgan would be interested in such superhero action flicks. Then again, she wasn't just any other girl who would most probably prefer love stories to action flicks. Morgan's a unique individual, Flack said to himself for the umpteenth time ever since he'd first laid eyes on her.

"So, have you always been into Batman?" Flack asked during the drive, trying to make some conversation. She flashed him a smile and rattled on about watching the first 5 movies of the franchise, and about how she had had a big crush on the actors who played Batman and Robin in 'Batman Forever', Val Kilmer and Chris O'Donnell. "I was about 12, I think, and I remember watching it on video so many times without getting sick of it. But I think Danny was starting to hate it already," Morgan laughed, continuing, "You should have seen the look on his face when I bought the DVD a couple weeks ago and showed it off to him,"

"I think he was just about ready to smash his head against the wall." She chuckled.

"That was in what, '95? I remember that it wasn't too popular among comic-book fans," Flack replied.

"Well, at least it was better than 'Batman and Robin'," Morgan deadpanned. "That's why I'm really looking forward to this new one, plus Christian Bale's really hot." She added with an impish smile on her lips.

"What about you?" she asked Flack, referring to his question.

"Me? I have some of the comics I bought when I was still a kid," he said. Morgan remembered seeing a box in Danny's room in which he kept his comics, and he'd nearly freak out when she tried to take them out for a look. "Danny used to collect comic books too, but I think he sold his collection years ago," she said. Flack almost asked why, but he stopped himself in time when he recalled Danny telling him that he'd had to take care of Morgan all by himself even before he entered high school. _Probably sold them for the money…for Morgan…_

Their first full-length conversation was getting off to a great start, Flack realized, and pretty soon they had reached the cinema theater. There was a long line at the ticket counter, but they managed to get good seats for the movie, and they even had time for a quick bite before the movie started. "Hey, I know a café just down the street that serves really good coffee," Morgan proposed.

They got to the café, made their orders and got started on the topic of comic-book movie adaptations. Flack was surprised to learn that Morgan had seen most of the movie versions in recent years such as Spider-Man, and was even looking forward to catching Sin City. That surprised him even more because that didn't seem to be the usual fare that girls would go for. Morgan, on the other hand, was having a great time discussing comic-book movies and also confessed to being a sucker for those cartoons when she was a child. "Must be Danny's influence eh?" Flack asked.

"Nah, he was too busy going to school or working part-time," Morgan answered. "I think it was a boy who lived down the hall that got me into watching those cartoons." She said with a musing smile. Although Morgan seemed to be perfectly fine with mentioning her childhood, Flack got the feeling that she didn't like to linger on that topic—the same feeling that he got from Danny. He didn't know what exactly went on during those years, all he knew was that the siblings' mother died early, father was probably not around much. It's not as if Danny went around telling people about his past, Flack mused to himself. _Perhaps she'll open up a little more when we're better acquainted with each other…_

How time flew. Just as Morgan was talking animatedly about her Power Rangers obsession years ago, Flack glanced at his watch and gasped. "Shit. We have less than 10 minutes to make our way back to the theater," he said hurriedly as they gathered their things and made for the front door. In her haste to cross the street, Morgan failed to notice an oncoming car and Flack moved quickly by grabbing her arm and pulling her back. The swift action made her body turn around so quickly that her long dark hair _swished_ against Flack's face and he caught a whiff of the scent of her hair. It was the smell of the shampoo she used, but to Flack the scent was as fragrant as a garden of flowers.

"You move fast," Morgan said, and promptly took Flack's hand off her arm. "Come on, we're gonna be late!"

Both of them entered the theater just as a whole bunch of computer-generated bats fluttered across the cinema screen. "Just in time," Flack whispered as they settled down in their seats. Morgan flashed a smile and silenced him with a finger to her lips. "Shhh."


	11. Words Left Unsaid

**Disclaimer:** CSI NY and its characters belong solely to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer. Only the original character Morgan Messer is mine.

**Spoilers/Ep. references:** #1.13 - "Tanglewood", #1.21 - "On The Job", #1.22 - "The Closer"

Sorry for the long wait! Had quite a case of writer's block...hehe. Hence the less-than satisfactory chapter. Ugh. Anyways, hope you readers will like it, and please leave a few words of comments when you're done. Thanks!

* * *

**-Eleven- **

"I'll go up on my own," Morgan said after Flack had pulled up outside her apartment building. "Thanks for the ride."

However, being the gentleman that he is, Flack insisted on walking her up so Morgan had no choice but to agree.

"Fine, but only up to the lift landing of my floor, okay?"

He seemed puzzled as to why she was acting a little secretive—after all, this wasn't a date. "Danny doesn't know?"

"I take your silence as a yes."

"Yeah, we aren't really back on talking terms yet. Besides, I'm not sure how he would react to it."

"He'd freak even if you went out with a platonic male friend?"

Morgan rolled her eyes and answered, "Yeah. Don't remind me about that. Ugh."

Flack chuckled. "Bad experience huh?"

"The guy walks me up to the apartment after a dinner; Danny opens the door, shoves him inside and starts to grill him as if he were my boyfriend. What do you think?" Morgan said indignantly. "I was so embarrassed that it took me a week before I talked to my friend again."

"Are you still friends?" Flack asked. "Yep, but now when he drives me home, he drops me off outside the building and drives off promptly."

Both of them chuckled as there was an understanding of what Morgan's remark meant.

"Um, thanks for the movie treat," Flack said nervously as they rode the elevator up to Morgan's floor. He'd offered to pay, but she wouldn't let him, stressing that it was a treat to thank him for helping Danny out. In fact, they almost caused a tiny commotion arguing over who should pay for the tickets a while earlier. The elevator doors flew open just as Morgan replied, "No problem."

"Um, you can go now," she added, her hands waving in a gesture that said "Go, go!" Morgan smiled sheepishly as Flack laughed quietly at the memory of her bad experience. "Okay, see you at work."

"Yep. Oh, it's late now so drive carefully, okay?"

Even though it was only an innocent show of concern for a friend-cum-colleague on Morgan's part, it kept Flack smiling for the 15-20 second elevator ride and also throughout the half hour drive back to his own apartment.

**XXX**

Danny had been home for the past hour or so and was eating his usual microwave dinner in front of the television when he heard the sound of keys rattling outside the front door. He promptly got up and opened the door for Morgan. They smiled awkwardly at each other and Morgan inched past her brother to go to her room. "Late night at work?" Danny asked, and Morgan's immediate reaction was to answer yes.

He cleared his throat discreetly and Morgan knew that she'd been busted. "I went by the AV lab on my way out to see if you needed a ride, but someone told me that you'd left already," Danny said.

"Okay, fine. I was out—with a friend." Morgan did not know why she felt she had to keep it from Danny that she went out with Flack, but she did.

"Oh," he answered as Morgan stopped at the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. Just as she took a big sip, Danny continued, "Flack?" which made her spit out the water in surprise.

"How did you know!"

"I kinda overheard, um, Aiden talking."

"To me?" Danny had already returned to his dinner, eyes transfixed on the television. Morgan took this as a sign that he did not want to confirm nor deny it—which meant that it was possible that he'd either heard Aiden talking to her, or talking to someone else. This wasn't important at that point though, because Morgan was concerned about something else—Danny's reaction—or rather the lack of it.

"Aren't you gonna freak that I went out with a guy?" she asked.

"Well, should I have something to worry about when you're out with Flack?" Danny answered without taking his eyes off the television screen for even a single moment. He then surprised Morgan by flashing a small smile. "Guess we're talking again."

Morgan glared at her brother without answering his question and walked into her room.

"You didn't answer my question!" Danny called out.

Morgan stepped out of the bathroom after a shower and heard sounds coming from the television, indicating that Danny was still there in the living room. She walked over to the sofa and sat down, while drying her wet hair with a towel at the same time. "Late night movie?" she asked nonchalantly and her brother nodded without glancing at her.

"I thought we're back on talking terms already?"

"I guess." Danny replied in that same nonchalant tone Morgan had used earlier. A mischievous glint shone in her eyes and she flicked her still-very wet hair at Danny, who tried to dodge the water droplets to no avail.

"I hate it when you do that."

"Now we're talking!" Morgan grinned, and it seemed to be infectious because Danny smiled a big smile for the first time in a few days—he hadn't smiled much since the shootout happened.

"And, I got you to smile." Another sign that things were finally okay between them was when Danny reached out a hand and ruffled her hair as usual.

"By the way, you didn't answer my question." Danny suddenly asked, and Morgan contemplated ignoring the issue but knew that he would not give up that easily.

"Flack's a nice guy, so you don't have to worry that he'll do anything inappropriate, okay?"

"Does that mean you'll be going out with him again in future?" Danny shot back, and Morgan was surprised to hear him say that, because she hadn't realized that what she said had implied so.

"I…I…I don't know." She replied offhandedly, but her stuttering somewhat gave her away and Danny's new-found smile turned into a frown. "Why? Do you have a problem with that?"

He didn't answer, and averted his eyes back to the television. Frustrated with his behavior, Morgan cried out, "Oh, come on! The movie's not even interesting, why bother pretending!"

"Fine. I admit I do have a tiny, little problem with that."

"What! Isn't Flack one of your good friends?"

"Yeah, but he's a cop."

"So are you."

"No, I'm a CSI."

"You carry a NYPD badge, and a gun. Not that much of a difference."

Danny took a deep breath and exhaled deeply, but did not shoot back a reply at Morgan.

"Oh, I get it. You're afraid that if I end up dating Flack, and something—touch wood—bad might happen to both of you and I'll be left alone?" Morgan said, her tone going softer as she reached the end of her sentence. "Yeah, somethin' like that," was all Danny answered.

"Does that mean that you plan to remain single until you retire from your job? Since you probably wouldn't wanna risk the same thing happening to your other half in future."

"You know what happened just the other day. I could've gotten away with injuries much worse than a bleedin' forehead."

"Danny," Morgan reached over and held his hand gently, "What happened that day wasn't your fault. You didn't kill that cop."

"Besides, I think if a woman really loves you, she would be willing to take the risk of losing you, rather than having not known you at all."

With that, Morgan gave Danny a little nudge and stood up to return to her room. "Don't stay up too late, okay?" she called out just as she entered her room.

'You almost lost me once already; I can't let anything happen to myself again. Don's a good friend, I know I can trust him to treat you well, but I don't want you to risk losing him in the line of duty. We've lost our mother, and our father is just the same, lost to us as we are to him. I can't let you go through the pain of losing someone close to you anymore than you already have.'

Danny wanted to say all this to his little sister, but the words never did find their way out of his mouth. He didn't know if Morgan and Flack's friendship was going to develop into anything romantic, but if it really came to that, he wanted Morgan to be sure that she was willing to take the risk that comes with the job. If she was not sure, he'd rather she give up the relationship, than to get her heart broken without any warning.

"_Sassone, I don't care if you kill me. I want out, now."_

"Kill you? Oh no, I wouldn't do that. 'Cuz your little sister would be left all alone, and you wouldn't want that, do you?"

"Don't you dare touch her! I'll fight you if I have to."

"Fight me? Who do you think you are, Messer? I decide what to do with you, not the other way around!" 

"What must I do before you'll let me out? I'll agree to anything. Just promise never to lay a finger on my sister, or I'll kill you."

"Easy. No one has ever left the Tanglewood gang—alive, that is."

"You wanna challenge me to a fight?"

"Me? Nooo. It's gonna be the rest of us—against you. If you can get out of it alive, you're out."

Danny was obviously on the losing end, but he desperately wanted to get out of the gang, he'd agree to any condition Sonny Sassone laid out—even if it meant his life. He'd rather die trying to get out of the gang than to die in a gang fight, or in jail. If he really did die, he would have Morgan know that he died doing the right thing—at least she'd be able to live with the knowledge that he was not a criminal, just a kid who took a wrong step but realized his folly quickly and tried to make things right. He wanted out. Even if that turned out to be the very last thing he would do.

It was a tough fight; it was obvious that Sonny Sassone never intended Danny to leave the gang alive. But Danny held on--even when he felt like giving up—for Morgan. "She needs me, I have to hang on!" He repeated this in his mind over and over to keep him going, even when his strength had run out, and all he could do was to stay conscious while the gang tried to beat him to death. If he could only stay conscious, then there'd be hope of seeing Morgan grow up into an adult, a beautiful woman worthy of only the best. Just as he thought that the beating would never end, Sassone yelled for his gang to stop. They dragged him into a car and drove off, only to throw him out of the car by the roadside in a secluded area.

"Let's go. He won't be alive for long."

Sassone was confident that Danny would never be able to survive such a brutal beating—he was wrong. Danny's will to live was strong, he held on in the faith that he would be able to live a normal life with Morgan after all this was over. Never would Sassone expect that not only Danny survived, he even became a law enforcer—a CSI, at that.

The gang left him for dead on a quiet road. Lying on the rough asphalt ground, bleeding everywhere, he tried to drag himself up to his feet. There was only one person he could call for help now, and if he could only hang on long enough to find a phone—Sassone had taken his wallet and other belongings away, hoping to disguise the beating as a robbery, perhaps—he could call that person for help.  
  
**XXX**

"Danny, we've got a case. Guy found dead in his car at the stadium." Aiden poked her head into the break room where Danny was just about to have a cup of coffee, and then they headed out to the entrance to meet up with Stella, who was coming back from the morgue.

"I thought you had a case this morning?" Danny asked.

"Classified as an accident. Case closed!" Stella and Mac had just returned to the lab after investigating a case where a woman was run over by a truck, clad in only her underwear. They suspected foul play at first, but Dr. Hawkes' autopsy results disproved that.

Baseball season was in, and the man found dead in his car was a fan from Boston who had come down to New York City in support of his home team. Unfortunately, while Boston won the match against New York, Gilbert Novotny. ended up dead shortly after the match ended. "Boston fan in the Bronx. He's very brave," Stella commented, to which Danny replied, "He's stupid, very stupid. Boston's tough, New York better get it together," The three investigators shared a laugh before getting down to work proper. It was going to be a long day for Danny. What a day for him to relive his memories of the times when he used to play baseball, when he'd just had a dream the night before which made him recall the events leading up to his exit from the Tanglewood gang. Although Danny had gotten his wish of leaving the gang, the consequence was that he could not play baseball again, due to the injuries he'd sustained on his wrist, among other places in his body.

"How does a potential shortstop become a crime scene investigator?" Aiden had asked while they were walking down the steps of the stadium seating area to get to where the victim was last seen alive.

"That's really easy. You get into a fight, break your wrist and then graduate from the police academy top of my class," Danny's reply seemed a little vague, but Aiden thought little or nothing of it as she replied, "You're dangerous, Danny Messer," in the light-hearted tone she always used when the two of them were talking.

"Very dangerous." Danny added, and the both of them chuckled.

**XXX**

"Where's Morgan?" Danny asked when he stepped into the AV lab the next day and saw Aiden at the computer, analyzing footage from the baseball game again—instead of his sister.

"Oh, she left work early. I heard she was busy working on some surveillance footage from Thacker's case all day and managed to give them a lead to work on,"

Aiden was going through the footage for the second time in two days; the first time was to establish a connection between the victim Gilbert and Margo Trent; whose hair had been found stuck to a baseball found in his car. Incidentally, Trent was the woman run over by a truck in the case that Stella had handled earlier. This time around, they were trying to find someone who could've possessed the strength that dealt Gilbert the blow that claimed his life. Danny was applying an ice pack on his shoulder which was aching from all the pitching he had done earlier—Mac had roped him in to try and determine the strength and speed a baseball could pack in order to make a hole in the door. The reason for this is because a search of Margo Trent's apartment turned up a baseball, which someone apparently threw so hard, it caused a hole in the bathroom door.

Even though his shoulders and arms hurt like hell, his wrist injury, luckily, was not aggravated. Danny was only hurting all over due to the lack of practice, since he hadn't pitched ball for a few years now, starting from the time he'd entered the police academy. Just then, his cell phone rang, and he winced a little while he reached into his pocket to retrieve it.

"Danny! Are you okay?" came a voice through the earpiece of the phone. It was Morgan, who had obviously heard about his little pitching exercise.

"I'm fine, except for an aching shoulder. Don't worry."

"What about your wrist? You could've injured it again!"

"Since when did we switch places with all the nagging? I'm fine. Go home and take a rest, you've had a long day."

"Okay, if you say so. Just don't expect me to give you a massage when you get back."

With that, Morgan hung up. She tended to forgo the obligatory goodbye greeting when she was not happy with something people said over the phone. Probably one of her many quirks, Danny thought to himself. She may have sounded harsh, but Morgan rarely kept her word. Usually, she'd end up doing what she said she wouldn't do, like doing the dishes, helping him with his work at times, etc.

Danny smiled to himself a little, knowing that chances are, he'd be able to get a massage from his sister when he got home, even though she just pretty much swore not to give him one just moments before.

"Hey, I've got something!" Aiden cried out, and Danny turned his attention back to the case.

* * *

I had to "think tough" again for the flashback part, hope it was okay. Man, I am so bad at talking tough. LOL! Thanks again for reading and please keep checking back for more! 


	12. Three Months Later

Hey people! Sorry for disappearing for so long...I feel so bad. So to compensate, here's a 7-page chapter (on MS word). Heh. Hopefully there are people out there who are still interesting in reading this...

**Disclaimer: CSI: NY and its characters are owned by CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer. Only the OC Morgan Messer is my creation.**

** Ep. references/ spoilers:** #1.21 - "On The Job", #2.01 - "Summer in the City".

**-Twelve-  
**

Morgan Messer was walking briskly towards the crime lab, trying to get out of the summer heat as soon as possible when she received a text message from a friend. _"Spiderman just fell from the Empire State Building! I think his brain fell out…yuck." _She raised an eyebrow at the strange message and replied with another text message that said, _"What the hell are you talking about?" _Moments after her message was sent, she received a phone call from the same friend who frantically explained the situation, and Morgan tried to calm her friend down. After all, it isn't every day that you see brain matter falling all over the sidewalk. She ended the call soon after, quickened her footsteps and entered the building that housed the crime lab, which had recently relocated to a high-rise building. Morgan ran in just in time to catch the elevator, and exchanged greetings with the new lab tech, Zack Shannon.

"Hey, Zack."

"Hey. Heat's terrible, isn't it?"

"A scorcher," groaned Morgan.

She passed her brother Danny in the hallways, who almost failed to notice her as he was rushing off to a crime scene. "Hey, gotta fly. I'll talk to you later?" Danny said as he entered the elevator that she and Zack had just exited. "Yeah, sure…" Morgan trailed off as the elevator doors closed and her brother disappeared from sight. A couple of months had passed since the shootout in a subway station involving Danny, a suspect in his case and an undercover cop which led to the unfortunate death of the latter. The ramifications of his actions also led Danny to finally open up to Morgan about his troubled past, but there were still some things about that time in his life which he kept from her. Morgan knew it, but chose to keep quiet for she did not want to pressure her brother into telling her anything, for fear that he would never open up to her again. That night the shootout happened was to be the only time Danny had (almost) completely opened to her; Morgan had tried to probe him into telling her more after that, but it was like the dam that was open had now been closed, never to open again.

Her train of thought was interrupted by Zack calling her name. "Yeah?"

"I said, sometimes I have trouble believing that the two of you are siblings," he repeated.

"Why is that so?" Morgan asked as they signed in and walked over to the locker room.

"Well, for starters, you're so different from him. You're…friendly."

Zack Shannon hadn't been with the crime lab for long and he still had that deer-in-headlights look from time to time, but luckily he found a friend just a day into the job – Morgan. They clicked almost immediately, and since then Morgan was sort of his tour guide even though she was still fairly new herself.

"Are you saying that Danny's intimidating?" Zack nodded slightly, and Morgan sniggered. "Don't worry, Shannon, he won't eat you up. Relax!"

Zack tried to defend his reasons for saying so, but Morgan covered her ears in mock ignorance. "Can't hear you. You gotta speak up, Shannon!" said Morgan as she walked over to the A/V lab. He did not have a chance to say so, but Zack had always felt that Danny would look at him in a weird way whenever he saw Zack and Morgan together. _I wonder if he thinks that I'm hitting on his sister. _If asked that, he would deny it, because he really wasn't trying to hit on Morgan. Zack also was under the impression that Morgan already had another man on her mind, even though she neither confirmed nor denied this when he asked her about it recently.

"Don't tell your brother I said that!" He called after her, and she waved him off without turning back to look at him.

**XXX**

Morgan had just stepped into the A/V Lab when her cell phone rang and judging by the caller ID shown on the phone, it was Flack. She wondered for a moment why he could be calling her so early. The past few months have been…weird, ever since she went with him to a movie, things with Flack have sort of been in limbo. They occasionally went out alone for dinners and a couple of movies since then, but things have not exactly progressed much, to the disappointment of Morgan, as she had began to be more sure than ever that she had feelings for Flack, albeit those feelings are still in the progressive stage. One thing she knew for sure was, she definitely would like to take things to a more romantic level with Flack, for she felt that he would be someone whom she could share everything with. The only glitch is that Flack didn't seem to be taking much action, and Morgan got the feeling that Danny might have something to do with it, albeit indirectly.

"_Hey Morgan. Just wanted to give you a heads-up; videotape in a new case is on the way to the lab as we speak. Try and look through it, see if there's anything of interest." _Flack's voice came through, and Morgan found herself suppressing a smile. "Sure, Flack. FYI, I do know how to do my job, you know." She joked. "So, what's the case about?"

"_Guy falls nearly 30 floors down the Empire State Building and his brain pops out. The videotape you'll be viewing was the guy's climb up, filmed by his friend." _Morgan tried to resist a chuckle when she heard that, Flack always had this talent for making gory details sound as trivial as asking if someone had eaten their breakfast yet.

It was then that Morgan realized that this was the "Spiderman" that her friend had been rambling about earlier. "Poor guy. You know, a friend of mine was there when it happened, even called me to tell me about it. Does it really look as bad as it sounds?"

"_You tell me when you see it for yourself."_ There was a short pause at the other end of the line, and Morgan wondered if Flack wanted to say something else to her.

"Flack? Anything else you wanna say to me?" She asked. Another pause. _"Um, no, I guess."_ Morgan then heard Mac's voice in the background and Flack hurriedly ended the conversation and hung up. She let out a disappointed sigh and put away her cell phone as she started up the computer that was her "best friend" in the job. "Why don't you make the first move?" came a voice at the doorway, causing Morgan to nearly jump right out of her own skin. It was Zack Shannon, who was acting like Chad Willingham No.2, poking his nose into her business. Speaking of the original, he had recently been put on the night shift roster and just when Morgan thought that she would be free of such peskiness, out pops Zack Shannon. He was a nice, quirky guy, but a little too curious at times which made Morgan frustrated.

"Zack! Do you float instead of walk! I didn't hear you come in…h-how long have you been standing there?"

"Hmm, right around the time you asked Flack if there was anything else he wanted to say…yep, about then." Zack cowered slightly when he caught Morgan glaring at him. "Eeep. Sorry, shouldn't have listened in. Go ahead, punish me."

"You know what? I won't punish you, because I'm a very nice person, am I not?"

"Yes, you're the nicest person in the whole world…I'll get out of your hair now." Zack smiled sheepishly as he left the A/V lab and got back to his own "lair", the Trace Lab.

The videotape arrived sometime later, and was handed to Morgan by a uniformed officer who gave Morgan a form to sign. She initialed the form and handed it back to the officer who exited the lab promptly. "Let's see…" she mumbled to herself as she loaded the tape and began to view the climber's fatal ascent up the Empire State Building. There was nothing suspicious throughout most of the climb, but Morgan spotted something of interest as he reached the 34th floor, which he fell from: there was a flash of light from the window – which she would later find out, was the muzzle flash of a gun. She noted that down, as well as the time it occurred on the tape. She would have to report it to Det. Mac Taylor later when he got back from the field. Morgan also saw how the climber fall, and unluckily for her, the tape also captured how his brain matter got spattered everywhere. She cringed at the sight and thought about how her friend must have felt, having seen that sight first hand.

Morgan passed Stella and Aiden in the hallway carrying bags of evidence as she was going to the break room to get a bottle of water. "Hey, shouldn't Danny be doing all the heavy lifting?" Morgan asked jokingly. "I'll be at the M.E's office," said Stella as she broke away from the trio. "So, where's my dear brother?"

"We sent him to go talk to a model who modeled a diamond bra," answered Aiden as Morgan followed her and unloaded the bags in the Evidence Room. "Hands in your pockets, girl." Aiden warned good-naturedly as she removed the diamond bra from the evidence bag and Morgan gawked at it. "Eight million dollars worth of diamonds, baby…" Aiden said as she began to document the evidence in detail.

"So, you got Danny to talk to a lingerie model, huh? He certainly got the better end of the stick," Morgan said as Aiden pretended to chase her out. "Alright, I'm gone!" Morgan laughed as she exited the evidence room. "Don't forget we're gonna be dinner buddies tonight!" She reminded Aiden, who replied jokingly, "Alright, alright. Couldn't forget even if I wanted to."

The two of them hung out together regularly after work these days, and had gotten to be close friends. At first, Morgan felt as if Aiden was spending time with her on account of Aiden's friendship with Danny; but as time went on she realized that both of them much in common with each other and could never run out of things to talk about. Morgan had known Aiden for some time even before she joined the lab, but never got the chance to know her better till now. She admired Aiden's independence and strong personality that came from growing up in a less-privileged neighborhood in Brooklyn; and Morgan wished she could have been more like her; perhaps she would have followed in her brother's footsteps and became a CSI. She saw how hard Danny worked sometimes, and felt like she could have lessened his burden in some way if she had gone into the same profession. They would probably be working different cases or even in a different place, but at least Morgan could understand what Danny was going through on the job – emotionally and professionally.

Meanwhile, Mac and Dr. Sheldon Hawkes have uncovered a murder that their dead climber may have witnessed – he tried to call 911 before he lost his grip and plummeted down the Empire State Building. Hawkes had recently made the switch from Medical Examiner to CSI a couple of months ago, and was still trying to get the hang of things of being a crime scene investigator. One thing about him that hasn't seemed to change was, according to Danny, his quirkiness and ability to throw out bits of trivia at anytime, anywhere. Morgan had had a taste of that a few times – she'd encounter him in the break room and they would engage in a short conversation, some random fact would be mentioned and Hawkes would go "Did you know that…" Morgan was amazed at his knowledge of all sorts of trivia, and she looked forward to speaking to him whenever she had the chance. Just some of the ways she could satisfy her curiosity of random things. You could say that Morgan and Hawkes had one thing in common: his willingness to dispense bits of trivia information, and her willingness to take in all that information.

**XXX**

Things were a little quiet in the A/V Lab for Morgan today – a great contrast to the CSIs, who have been to more than one crime scene since the start of their day. Danny went past the A/V lab just as Morgan had her chin propped up on the table with her hands and chided her (lightheartedly) for being lazy on the job. "Shut up. I wasn't being lazy, alright?" She shot back at her brother, followed by a smirk which always made her brother raise an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"I hear you went to talk the lingerie model…"

"Yeah, so what?"

"I bet you had a hard time trying to talk to her, eh?"

"Hey, I wasn't checking her out, okay?"

"Oh, that wasn't what I meant, but if you say so, then…okay!"

Danny knew that he had been duped, and retaliated the only way he knew how. He slapped the back of his sister's head as he said, "Smartass,"

"Ahem," came a voice at the door. It was Flack, and any retorts that Morgan had for Danny all flew out the window, so to speak. He had come to see Mac and Hawkes about the case and on impulse decided to drop in and sneak a peek at Morgan. Only thing was, Flack had no idea what he would say to her. Nodding a greeting to the siblings, he tried to figure out something to say so that Danny would not get suspicious. "Hey," he said.

"Hey, Flack. You here about your case?" Danny asked.

_Thank you, Danny, for helping me come up with an excuse. _Flack said to himself and answered in the affirmative. Danny then excused himself, leaving Morgan and Flack in the company of only each other. "So…what have you got from the tape?" He asked casually, trying to sound as natural as possible. Morgan eyed him for a moment, trying to figure out if there was something more to his visit, say on a personal note, but chose not to let her mind wander. _If he's here for the case, then he's here for the case. Don't go opening your big mouth, Morgan, _she thought to herself. Aiden had made no secret of how Flack felt about Morgan; in fact she had said that it was strange that Flack hadn't made any move thus far. "You guys are gonna drive me crazy, you know that?" Aiden had ranted, while Morgan could only smile sheepishly. "If one of you doesn't do something soon, I may just have to step in and _do _something."

Morgan briefly described the flash of light she had seen coming from the 34th floor that the dead climber was outside of, just before he fell. "Could you show it to me?" Flack asked and Morgan played the tape for him, fast-forwarding to the few moments before the flash of light occurred. He stood next to Morgan and leaned in close to the monitor to get a better look. By now, their faces were so close, only inches away that their cheeks threatened to touch if any one of them moved any closer. Morgan realized that first and slowly leaned away from Flack, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the sudden lack of distance between them. Even thought she had shifted a few more inches away from him, she could still smell the hint of cologne that he wore.

"Have you shown this to Mac?" Flack asked. Morgan, who was feeling a little intoxicated from the sudden closeness to Flack mixed with the scent of his cologne, failed to hear him ask her a question. He repeated his question and this time she had recovered enough to answer. "Uh…no, not yet. He said that he'll come by and take a look at it later,"

"Right."

The silence had only lasted less than two seconds, but it felt like such a long time. Morgan was trying to get herself to say something, anything to Flack and all she came up with was, "Hey, you've got a haircut," with a nervous smile.

"Yeah," was all Flack said. Next thing he knew he was saying, "You like it?" He nearly wanted to slap himself in the face for saying something _so _lame. Imagine his surprise when Morgan replied that she did like his new haircut. "Really? You do?"

_Is this the goofy smile Aiden was talking about? _Morgan said to herself. Aiden had mentioned that a goofy smile would slip onto Flack's face whenever Morgan was the topic of discussion. She got the feeling that the smile of his face right now was the 'goofy smile' that Aiden loved to laugh about. Looking at that smile, she could only smile back. The ringing of his cell phone shattered the moment in pieces as Morgan shifted her gaze to her computer and Flack flipped open his phone to answer. "Flack. Yeah, I'll be there ASAP." It was Mac, who wanted Flack to meet him and Hawkes at the morgue – the wife of Lee Dillard, the man whose murder was witnessed by "Spiderman".

"It's Mac. I gotta go."

Morgan nodded in reply and said, "See ya," before looking away.

"Bye."

After Flack left, she lamented how their conversation had ended on an awkward note – again. She fought the urge to bash her head on the table in frustration and let out a big sigh. At that moment, Aiden appeared at the door way and she seemed to be in a rush. "Hey, what's up?" Morgan asked. Aiden explained that she had something important to do and that dinner would have to be canceled. She apologized and added, "Rain check?" Morgan nodded and assured that this was no big deal, just a dinner and that they could go anytime. Little did she know that things were going to change – in a big way, concerning Aiden, just a week from now.

**XXX**

A few hours later, Mac came by the A/V Lab with Hawkes and asked to see the video footage. Morgan told them about the occurrence of a flash at the 34th floor window and Mac determined that it was a muzzle flash. This turned out to be a big clue, as they found out that the victim's assistant had been hired by his ex-wife to kill him. The muzzle flash could be seen on the video because the blinds were open – so that the ex-wife could watch while the murder went down. Mac later found the two at Dandridge Hotel, in a room which was directly across the victim's office. The ex-wife, a Connie Williams, plotted the victim's death because he had left her for another woman, leaving her penniless as a result of a prenuptial agreement.

At the end of the day, Morgan walked through the halls of the crime lab looking for Danny. If he had wrapped up his case, perhaps they could do some late-night grocery shopping and fix dinner themselves. Frankly, she was getting quite sick of eating out for the past month or so. The two of them hadn't been sitting down for a meal together for a few weeks, as Danny was always busy. Seeing no point in making food just for herself, Morgan often opted to eat out. She spotted her brother and Zack in the Trace Lab and popped her head in the room. "Hey, wrapped up your case? Was thinking of going to the supermarket. How about I make dinner for us tonight?" Morgan said to her brother.

"Pretty much wrapped up, except for some paperwork. Weren't you supposed to go to dinner with Aiden?"

"I was, but she had to cancel."

"Right. Mac assigned her to a new case."

The case wasn't exactly new, it was a rape case which Aiden had handled 18 months before – the rapist had attacked the victim again. The victim, Regina Bowen, refused to testify back then and the culprit got away scot-free. This time, she is determined to put him behind bars and had called Aiden for help. Despite this, Aiden was unable to find any useful evidence this time around. Her frustration and determination to crack the case would her to contemplate a terrible decision…

"So do you want me to wait for you?"

"Nah, I'll be here at least another hour. I think I'll get take-out."

"Okay. Hmmm…Zack!" Morgan called. "How about…you and me, let's go have dinner."

"Me?" Zack said, pointing to himself. He sneaked a glance at Danny, who was staring straight at him. "Don't be getting any funny ideas about my sister," he hissed softly.

"I heard that. Stop trying to scare him!" Morgan proceeded to drag Zack out of the Trace lab. "Let's go, just ignore him."

"Wait a sec." Danny reached into his pants pocket, got out his car keys and tossed them over to his sister. "Here, take the car."

"What about you?"

"You could always swing by and pick me up when you're done," he said with a grin. "_If _I want to." Morgan said with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You wouldn't."

"Yeah, we'll see. Zack, you coming?"

"You never told me you could drive, are you sure about this?" Danny heard Zack say as the two of them made their way to the locker room to retrieve their things. "Zack!" Morgan said with an exasperated sigh. Danny couldn't help but smile in amusement upon hearing their comical exchange.

Meanwhile in the Layout Room, unbeknownst to everyone, Aiden was going over the evidence of the rape case and she came upon a small evidence bag containing the suspect's hair. Breaking the seal, she removes the hair from the bag and contemplates her next step…


	13. Goodbye, Aiden?

_**Here's a new chapter! Hopefully I'll be able to post at a quicker speed now…I think my writer's block is finally going away. Please read and review! To Becs, thanks for always being the first to review any new chapter of mine! I really appreciate your comments, and I'm trying to improve on things with every chapter. As for the rest, thanks for just clicking on this story and reading it. Thank you!**_

**Disclaimer: **CSI: New York belongs to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer.

**Ep. References/spoilers: **#2.02 – "Grand Murder at Central Station".

**-Thirt33n- **

It's been a week since Aiden starting working on the Regina Bowen rape case again, and Morgan was starting to get really concerned for her as she was working so hard, Aiden just fell short of being obsessed with the case. She was already there in the lab when most people got to work, and stayed behind when everyone had left at the end of the day. Morgan wasn't even sure if Aiden had gone home at all during the week. She tried to get through to her, but Aiden always said that she was fine and that she could still deal with it. "Are you sure? 'Cause you don't look like you're dealing with it very well." Morgan had said, but Aiden insisted that she was okay and promptly got back to work, trying to uncover any evidence that could nail the bastard who raped the same woman twice and got away with it – almost, if Aiden could help it.

"Danny. You gotta do something, anything! She's not listening to me, maybe she would listen to you," Morgan said as they walked into the building that housed the crime lab. Her brother put up his hand in surrender and stated that he'd tried, but Aiden was stubborn and Morgan knew it, no one would be able to stop her except for Aiden herself.

"What about getting Mac or Stella to talk to her? And Flack?"

"Morgan, stop." And she did, stop walking, that is.

"What?"

Danny held her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes as he said, "Aiden's got her reasons for seeing this case through, and I'm pretty sure she knows her own limits, don't worry, okay?"

"Fine. But if Aiden suffers a breakdown, I'm blaming it on you." Morgan warned as she regained her pace and stepped in front of him on the way to the elevator. Danny stared after her and couldn't help but roll his eyes.

The first thing Morgan did was to check out the Layout Room, and lo and behold, Aiden was already there. Morgan stood outside the room for a moment, contemplating whether or not to go inside and talk to her. Before she could come up with a decision, Aiden had spotted her first. Taking a deep breath and making a mental note not to say anything discouraging, Morgan flashed a welcoming smile and entered the room. "Hey, Aiden. How long have you been here?"

She tried to sound nonchalant. "Ah, you know, a couple of hours." But Morgan knew better. "You pulled an all-nighter again, didn't you?" Aiden slowly nodded. Morgan groaned in frustration as she said, "I can't take this anymore! Danny told me not to stick my nose in this, but I'm worried about you, Aid."

"Honey, there's nothing to worry about."

"You've been on this case for a week, that's almost to the point of obsession, and there's nothing to worry about?"

Aiden was silent. She knew she had been putting in long hours, way longer than usual on this case; but she couldn't help it. It was the first time she felt helpless, like there was nothing she could do except watch the guy that raped Regina Bowen walk away with a smile on his face. She recalled the day she looked him up, the guy had acted as if nothing had happened, but Aiden and the victim both knew he was guilty, and she just couldn't find the evidence to prove his guilt. She was near desperate to get a break in the case, so much that she nearly did the most unethical thing a criminalist could do – plant evidence.

It was a week ago, when she had just gotten the news that the rapist had struck again. Aiden went to the evidence vault to retrieve the evidence in the rape that occurred 18 months ago to review the old case files and look over the old evidence. She'd seen the evidence bag containing the suspect's hair, and a notion entered her mind. Unable to help herself, she took a sharp tool and slit the tape on the bag. Using a pair of tweezers, she carefully removed the hair and held it above the victim's underwear, contemplating if she should do this or not.

_Aiden, think! What if someone finds out? You'll lose your job!_

_But if I don't do this, that son-of-a-bitch will get away, again! I can't do this to Regina; she deserves to have justice served! _

Her feelings were split in half, just what you see in cartoons, the angel on one side of her, and the devil on the other. Aiden's hand which held the tweezers hovered above the victim's underwear for a few seconds when someone suddenly walked into the room, startling her. She realized what she had been to close to doing, had hurriedly placed the hair back into the evidence bag – but failed to re-seal the bag to cover up what she had done. Aiden returned the box containing all the evidence and case files to the evidence vault and went to the washroom. Splashing water on her face, Aiden looked at her reflection in the mirror. "What did I just do?"

"Aiden! You okay?" Morgan's voice brought her back to the present and she realized she had spaced out for a moment. Aiden reassured Morgan for the umpteenth time that she was fine, and diverted her attention back to her work. Morgan could only sigh. She placed her hand on Aiden's shoulder and lingered for a moment before taking it off. Aiden, touched at her gesture, gave her thankful smile. Morgan too smiled back, and she knew that there was no changing Aiden's mind. "Just…know when to stop, okay?"

**XXX**

"Morgan Messer?" A uniformed police officer appeared outside the A/V Lab, holding a box in his hand. He looked young, probably made to do legwork because he was a rookie. She nodded in acknowledgment and he handed her the package. "Security video footage from Grand Central Station." Detective Mac Taylor had called ahead to tell her that the tapes were on their way, and had asked her to go through them. "Anything of interest, you inform me." Mac had said. She took over the package from the rookie cop and signed the form that he handed her.

"You're Danny Messer's sister, aren't you?" He asked. Morgan exhaled deeply as she said, "Yes. And tell everyone else you know as well, while you're at it. Got it?" She looked so serious that the rookie got a little spooked. "Y-Yes, Ma'am." He stuttered as he exited the lab, and Morgan could only laugh at the poor guy.

Mac and Dr. Hawkes had been called to the Grand Central Station earlier, where a man had lye thrown at him. Hawkes had ridden in the ambulance with the victim, administered CPR on him, but he still couldn't save the man – he'd died before they could make it to the hospital. The lye had burnt part of his face and right hand – ironically, the victim was a plastic surgeon, a Dr. Spencer Howard.

A few hours after Morgan had started viewing the morning's security footage, Mac returned to the lab from the crime scene. She was just finishing up her beverage at the break room she spotted Mac and Aiden speaking to each other while on his way to the elevator. "I don't want you working any other case until we get some tangible evidence or a solid lead." Mac said. The elevator doors closed and Morgan could see that Aiden looked defeated. She passed the break room, and caught Morgan's concerned look. Aiden flashed a small smile to reassure her that everything is okay. Morgan mouthed, "You sure?" and Aiden nodded as she went past.

Morgan was so lost in thought that she didn't realize that Danny had appeared behind her. He grabbed her neck from behind and she nearly screamed. "Relax, nobody's gonna hurt you." Danny said with a laugh.

"Your new-found jovialness is a little disturbing, you know that?"

Danny raised an eyebrow, and Morgan retracted her remark. "Forget I ever said that."

"Need my help with something?" She asked her brother.

Danny showed her the device he had in his hand and asked if she could tinker with it; see if she could get some addresses off it. "This belonged to our victim, the blind girl. It's a Trekker, a Braille GPS device." He said as he put it in Morgan's hand.

Earlier that morning, a couple enjoying a little suntan at the rooftop of their apartment building was horrified to discover a body behind a row of potted trees. Danny and Stella were called to the scene, and the body was identified as Evelyn Danner. Initial findings of the body and crime scene show that she appeared to have been strangled, which failed to explain the presence of a GSR-like residue on her cheek – which would be confirmed as carbon steel residue. Later, during the autopsy, Medical Examiner Dr. Evan Zao discovers that the victim was blind. "Who the hell strangles a blind girl?" remarks Danny after he hears of the news. While at the victim's apartment, Danny and Stella finds out that she was a gifted sculptor, judging by the many sculpted torsos and faces that adorned her apartment – probably of those she knew personally. Stella then comes upon an unfinished bust. She knows someone who may be able to help put the finishing touches on it, and they took the bust back with them to the crime lab. Hopefully the identity of that person might shed some light about the victim. While at the victim's apartment, Danny and Stella also found a letter – written in Braille. "Love letter, maybe?" Danny mused.

"Okay, I'll get to it as soon as I can," Morgan said.

**XXX**

Danny made an appearance at the door of the A/V Lab a prompt two minutes after Morgan had paged him.

"You paged?" He asked, one hand leaning on the door-frame of the lab. His sister was busy scribbling something down on a notepad, and didn't respond.

"Nothing to tell me? Fine, I'm gone."

"Patience is a virtue, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. What do you have for me?"

Morgan handed him the Trekker and a piece of paper. "Took me some phone calls, but I managed to find someone who knew how to operate this thing. Instructions are on the paper, as well as the place your victim last visited before she was killed."

"Great. I owe ya. Later."

"Danny!" She called, "Don't you have any idea where that place is?" Morgan was almost breaking into a grin.

"Where?"

"You'll find out!" Morgan said with a wink.

"It's not some…weird place, is it?"

"Don't worry, just go and you'll know."

Danny returned to the lab with Stella about an hour later and his first stop was the A/V Lab, and Morgan was already awaiting his return. "Sooo…" She drawled, "What was it like watching a cuddle party in progress?"

"Uncomfortable."

Morgan sniggered, and got a death glare from Danny as a result. "How did you know it was a place for cuddle parties anyway?"

"My friend tried to get me to go once, and I recognized the address."

"Tried? You didn't go, right?"

"Why?"

"Because if you did go, I may have to seriously consider grounding you." Danny said with a serious expression.

"Danny! You're overreacting, cuddle parties aren't about sex, okay?"

"Sure looked like it to me."

Morgan took a deep breath and began explaining. "Cuddle parties are basically an event where people get together for group hugs, who feel that they need to be touched…not in _that _way, Danny. Their PJs stay on and they are, I repeat, _not _about sex!"

"Are you sure you never went to a cuddle party? 'Cuz you seem to know a great deal about them without having attended one."

**XXX**

"You found something?" Mac asked Morgan.

She did. Mac viewed the tape once over and asked Morgan to digital stills of the footage, so that he could go through them.

"Already did it for you." She handed over the stills to Mac who gave it the once-over and said with a smile, "Good job."

"Thank you, sir."

"Ah – remember, don't call me 'sir'."

"Right. I'll remember that." Morgan said with a smile, and Mac returned the gesture.

**XXX**

"Hey, Doc. Slow down, you're gonna choke." Morgan said when she saw Dr. Hawkes in the break room gobbling down his lunch – an order of Chinese take-out. "Can't help it. Lots to do on the case."

"Even then, I'm sure Mac will at least give you some time to eat!" She laughed. Dr. Hawkes used to be the boss in the Medical Examiner's office, and now he had to be at Mac's beck and call, so to speak.

"Oooh. Hang on a sec." Hawkes said, reaching for the remote control and turning up the volume on the television. Morgan turned in the direction of the television and resisted a chuckle. "I never knew you liked Jennifer Lopez." Hawkes only smiled and went back to devouring his lunch, while Morgan leisurely chomped on her sandwich, egg mayonnaise – one of her favorites. Seconds later, Mac walked in with his usual serious expression, giving Morgan a nod. "Hey, Mac." She said politely.

"You on a break?" He asked Hawkes, who replied that he was just taking five minutes to eat. "That's okay, isn't it?" He asked.

"Eating is frowned upon, Hawkes." Morgan had to cover her mouth with one hand to stifle her laughter when she saw Hawkes starting to gather up his things and put away his lunch. Mac's stern expression turned into an amused smile as he said, "I'm just kidding, relax!" Morgan had noticed this slight change in Mac of late, he was less of the old Mac that Danny used to talk about – all serious and hardly ever smiled. Now, he was smiling a lot more and certainly cracking more jokes. Whatever it was that brought about this change in him, Morgan hoped it lasts because she kind of liked this new-and-improved Mac. At least she wouldn't feel as nervous around him as she did months before. Hawkes laughed in relief as he resumed his eating, as Mac enquired about the progress of the case.

Flack had the unlucky task of interviewing three people earlier, who had malpractice lawsuits pending against Dr. Howard – the damages potentially amounting to millions of dollars. The three plaintiffs were unfortunately disfigured at the hands of the "good doctor", left them with cat-like eyes, a perpetual frown and a permanent smile respectively. The last person, however, was a potential suspect as Flack saw that she used a tanning bronzer on her hand to mask a skin condition. Coincidentally, tanning bronzer was found on the Dr. Howard's shirt. Flack then asked the woman to remove her shoe to see if her shoeprint matched the one that Hawkes found on a teddy bear belonging to a little girl – who was mildly injured by the lye because she was standing right next to the victim the attack happened – which Hawkes told Morgan was named Franklin. "Awww, that's so cute!" Morgan had remarked.

The shoeprint didn't match, which meant that the woman was innocent. "Let's just say that you've got a lot to smile about," Flack had said to her. He had informed Hawkes of the outcome of the interview and remarked that it was like a freak show. Hawkes then relayed this to Mac, who theorized that they should probably start looking at people within the clinic the doctor worked at. Meanwhile, Morgan hovered at another table, to give them the privacy of discussing the case. Moments later, Mac got up and left, leaving Hawkes behind to finish up his lunch while he went to take care of something else first.

Hawkes picked up a piece of broccoli with his chopsticks and stopped short of putting it into his mouth as he stared at the Jennifer Lopez music video still playing on the television. He was staring at the screen, or rather; at Miss Lopez with such concentration that Morgan couldn't bear to snap him out of it. "Bless you, J.Lo." He said suddenly, surprising Morgan. Hawkes gathered his things and threw the take-out box into the trash can. "See ya around," he said to Morgan before leaving the break room. "Bye," Morgan waved as she laughed softly, amused by the situation, and wondered what he had meant by that last remark.

**XXX**

Afterward, Mac and Hawkes had figured everything out: the shoe-print found on Franklin the teddy bear was a match to Dr. Howard's partner, Stanley Thatcher. The unique wear pattern tells the CSIs that whoever the shoe-print belongs to walks on the balls of their feet. It was a perfect match to Thatcher's shoe-print. Dr. Howard's malpractice lawsuits placed their medical practice in jeopardy, therefore the two doctors thought of a plan to minimize their losses – an insurance scam. Thanks to J.Lo, Hawkes did some checking and found that Dr. Howard had insured his hands for ten million dollars. The rest of the puzzle fit in easily. They planned the "attack" to occur at Grand Central Station during rush hour in the hope that the vast number of human traffic during that time would deter the insurance company from launching a full-scale investigation. That would explain the lye burns on Dr. Howard's hands – slow and deliberate. The attack would also most likely be written off as "just a random act by some crazy New Yorker." Unfortunately, someone bumped into Thatcher just as he was carefully pouring the lye onto Dr. Howard's hand, causing the deadly solution to fly up in the doctor's face. Thatcher panicked and threw the cup containing the lye away, stepping on Franklin the teddy bear as he walked away. He not only lost his insurance payout, but also his license and partner. "It never ceases to amaze me – how men of higher education can commit such…stupid crimes." Mac had said. "Good luck in prison, Doctor."

On her way out of the crime lab, Morgan saw Hawkes in the Layout Room, holding what she presumed to be Franklin. "Hey, is that Franklin?" She asked as she walked in. "Yeah, I'm just about to send him back to his owner, Emily. You wanna say hi?" She held the bear for him as he prepared the box to put Franklin in. "Need my help?" Morgan offered. Hawkes shook his head good-naturedly and replied, "Nah, I've got it covered."

"Okay then, see you tomorrow." She said with a smile, and sprinted out of the Layout Room to catch Danny before he left.

"Hey. Done with your case?"

"Let me guess. You need a ride?" Danny said with a grin. Morgan hooked arms with her brother and said, "Yeah. I'm in the mood to spend time with my dear brother tonight," she said with an equally big grin. "So what happened with your case?"

Danny related what he and Stella and uncovered. It seems that the victim was at the apartment building where her body was found to meet up with her ex Steve, the same person who sent her a love letter written in Braille. "That's so sweet! Oh no, don't tell me he killed her?" He shook his head, and continued. It was his room-mate Paul that killed her – the two of them had hooked up when Evelyn was on the rebound after breaking up with Steve. However, she soon realized that Steve was the one for her and went looking for him to rekindle their relationship after she read the letter. When she arrived at the boys' apartment, Paul was the only one home for Steve wasn't home yet. He led Evelyn to the rooftop presumably to talk her out of making up with Steve, but she rejected him. Outraged that a girl had rejected him – a blind girl, no less – Paul had strangled her in a fit of anger. "Case closed." Danny finished.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked after he saw Morgan looking pensive. "Nothing, I just feel sorry for that girl, you know. All she wanted was someone who truly loved her, like that Steve guy. But Paul couldn't see past that, as he saw was a blind girl who didn't have the right to reject his advances."

**XXX**

As the siblings exited the crime lab, Mac called Aiden into his office. He had been going through the evidence in the Regina Bowen rape case and discovered the evidence bag with broken seal. Realizing that Aiden was the only one who could've done it, Mac was forced to make the hard decision. He knew that even though Aiden was still young and inexperienced in some ways, Mac knew that she has what it takes to be a good CSI – which makes what he is about to do all the more difficult.

"You wanted to see me, Mac?" Aiden asked as she stood at the doorway of Mac's office. His back facing her, Mac answered, "Shut the door, Aiden."


	14. You're Fired

**_Back with a new chapter! I think I'm like a lot of CSI: NY fans around, dissatisfied at the way Aiden was written out. So here, in this chapter, is my take on Aiden's exit. Hopefully you readers will like it. Just like the show, Lindsay will also be a part of my fic from now on. And I really do like Lindsay, hehe. Anyway, please read and review!_**

**Disclaimer: **CSI: New York is the property of CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer.

**Ep. References/spoilers: **CSI: Miami #2.23, CSI: NY #1.00 - "MIA/NYC Nonstop", #2.02 – "Grand Murder at Central Station".

**

* * *

**

**-4ourteen-**

"Shut the door, Aiden."

Mac turned around and showed Aiden the evidence bag that was in his hand the whole time. "What were you thinking?"

That's it, Aiden thought. Someone had finally found out. She just wished that it didn't have to be Mac. He sat her down to talk, and Aiden wished that Mac would just say the words "you're fired" already so that she could go out and have a good cry. She loved her job, but for the past week, there were times when Aiden felt that she was ready to throw in the towel. She often thought, why was she still doing this, if she can't even catch a rapist who had struck for the second time? How is she even going to solve more heinous crimes, like murder?

"There are three things that I will protect at any cost: the honor of this country, the safety of this city and the integrity of this lab." Mac said gravely. Criminalists have the power – the ability to assign guilt or innocence, and their job is to handle the evidence with honesty, integrity and good faith. "When you broke that seal, you broke that promise."

Aiden tried to defend her actions, saying that even though she wanted to – hell, she really did want to – but she didn't plant the evidence. "I couldn't go through with it; I knew I couldn't live with that." She had convinced herself of that many times this past week, but deep down Aiden knew that she'd put her own job in jeopardy the moment she even had that thought.

"You couldn't live with it, or you couldn't compromise the integrity of this lab?" Mac asked.

"You _know_ how much this place means to me, Mac." Aiden answered. It was true. This was the place where she felt truly at home. "That son-of-a-bitch raped Regina twice, and he's gonna get away with it _twice_?" She added, her eyes filled with tears and anger over the injustice suffered by Regina.

"And if the credibility of our findings is suspect, how many more do you think will walk? Ten? Twenty? A hundred?"

And here it is, Aiden thought. It's coming.

"The truth is; I can't have someone like that working in this lab."

This is it, Aiden said to herself. She knew no matter what she said, Mac would never change his mind. As head of the crime lab, he couldn't afford to jeopardize the integrity of the lab, because as criminalists, they are often the only people who are able to speak for the victims involved in the crimes that they investigate. Mac was right. If that integrity is compromised, criminals will walk free. Besides, Aiden knew she couldn't trust herself _not _to do it again. She was sure the longer this case dragged on; somewhere down the road she would've thrown all caution to the wind and planted that evidence.

"You're fired."

Her eyes closed in resignation; Aiden reached down to her waist and removed her NYPD badge. Setting it down on Mac's table, she said, "I'm sorry I let you down." Even though Aiden had only been working under him for about two years, she knew that Mac had a lot of faith in her capability, and now she had disappointed him. She remembered the time when Lieutenant Horatio Caine from Miami-Dade PD had come to New York to investigate a double murder – she had been stuck with a bodega case by Danny, but Mac still let her work Trace on the big case. "You helped out Danny, you should be able to touch a big case like this," Mac had said to her.

Before she left Mac's office and the crime lab, she made him promise to catch the guy, not for her, but for the victim Regina. Mac in turn assured her that the case folder will remain on his desk, until the day justice is served. After Aiden exited his office, Mac looked on as he pondered over his decision. He had considered a period of suspension for her, but he knew that Aiden was a stubborn one – there's not telling when and if she would do something like this again. He couldn't take that risk, and so he made the hard decision to let her go. "I'm sorry, Aiden. I did what I had to do."

**XXX**

That same night, Morgan was lying in bed unable to sleep – she felt uneasy, for some reason. Sitting up, she grabbed her cell phone off the nightstand and dialed Aiden's number – again, she had tried to get in touch in Aiden for a few hours now. She tried twice, but Aiden still wasn't picking up. Morgan began to worry. She flung the covers off herself and left her room. She stood outside Danny's room and knocked on the door gently. Nothing. She tried again, this time a little louder. Still nothing. Morgan slowly opened the door to her brother's room (she knew he doesn't ever lock his door – been that way since they were kids) and crept her way to his sleeping figure. She stood over him and tried whispering his name, but there was no response. Then again, being heavy sleepers seemed to be a trait both siblings shared. Morgan then tapped him lightly on the cheek. Danny didn't even stir from his sleep, and she was getting impatient. Standing with her arms folded, Morgan tried thinking of ways to get him to wake up. "A-ha," she said under her breath.

Morgan made her way to his bedside drawer, pulled it open and pushed it shut with considerable force. She glanced over at Danny, who seemed to stir a little. She then crouched next to him and said into his ear, "Danny, wake up! Your off-duty gun is missing."

It worked. Danny sat up in bed with a start. "WHAT?" He then groggily reached for the bedside drawer and stuck his hand in, searching for his off-duty gun. Relieved to find that it was still there, he realized for the first time that his sister was standing in the middle of his room. "What are you doing here?" he asked, while fighting back a yawn. He glanced at his watch which he was still wearing and exclaimed, "It's two a.m.! What the hell are you doing in my room?"

"Something's wrong." Morgan said simply.

"Of course something's wrong – you're in my room at freakin' TWO A.M.!"

"I haven't been able to contact Aiden for the past few hours; do you think something happened to her?"

"Do I _look _like her babysitter? I don't know, okay! Just let me sleep, please?" He tried to lie back down in bed, but Morgan wouldn't let him. She kept a firm hand on his arm and pulled on it whenever he attempted to lie down.

"Okay. I give up. What is it that you want me to do?"

"Call her, she might answer your calls. Ask if she's okay."

"That's it? Then you'll leave me alone to sleep?"

"That's it. I promise."

Danny let out an exasperated sigh – his sister can be very persistent. Sometimes he wondered how he managed to get through his childhood years without a single thought of smothering his little sister with a pillow while she slept. Most brothers had that thought one time or another. He reached for his cell phone and dialed Aiden's number. "Hello?" a voice answered. Danny nodded at Morgan as a sign that Aiden had picked up. "Aiden, are you okay? Morgan says she's been trying to call you for the past few hours but you didn't answer," he said. On the other end of the line, Aiden replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I just didn't hear my phone ringing."

If Danny had been fully awake, he would have realized that Aiden sounded a little funny over the phone, but being sleep-deprived, all he wanted to hear was the words, "I'm okay" coming from her mouth.

"Alright, just checking. I'll see you at work tomorrow?"

There was a pregnant pause. "I gotta go. Bye."

Danny shut his cell phone with a shrug, saying, "She says she's okay. Satisfied?"

"If you say so. Go back to sleep." Morgan said and exited Danny's room. "What have I done to deserve this?" She heard Danny groan as he settled back into his bed.

**XXX**

The next morning at work, the first thing Morgan did was to check if Aiden had come in yet. She asked a few lab techs, but all of them said that they hadn't seen her. "Hey, Zack." She called, and Zack Shannon stopped dead in his tracks. "Yes?" he asked; his expression tentative. "Chill, Zack. I just wanted to ask if Aiden had come in yet." Hearing this, Zack started to back away from her.

"You mean you didn't know?"

Morgan took two steps toward him, while Zack continued to back away. "Is there something that I _should _know, Zack?"

"Aiden was fired by Mac yesterday." Zack said quickly and practically ran off. Morgan followed after him.

"Zaaack," she called, dragging out the pronunciation of her friend's name for as long as possible. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on." Morgan said as she caught up with Zack and held onto the collar of his lab-coat tightly.

"That's all I know!"

Just then, Morgan saw Danny walking past and released her hold on Zack. "Danny!"

"Yeah, I heard." Her brother said immediately, without waiting for Morgan to ask her question. "Stella told me."

"Did she say why?" The both of them seemed reluctant to utter the words "Aiden" and "fired".

"All she said was Mac did what he had to do, to preserve the integrity of this lab."

Morgan's hand flew to her mouth. "Don't tell me she…"

"No, she didn't. But you know how it works, once the evidence seal is broken, the chain is broken."

"Yeah, but Aiden's a good CSI!"

"I know that too, Morgan. But what she did was indeed wrong." Danny said. "You think I want her to leave?" he added.

Danny was just as shocked as Morgan when he heard about it this morning. Just like his sister, he'd heard it from someone else, and he quickly went to Stella to get her confirmation on the matter. He knew that it wouldn't be a great time to get it straight from the horse's mouth, so he went to Stella first. "Is there any way to get her back?" a concerned Danny asked, even though he pretty much knew the answer. It was unlikely that Aiden would be able to get a job as a criminalist anywhere else, ever. He tried calling Aiden, but her cell phone seemed to be turned off. Danny then left a voice message for her.

"_Hey, Aiden. I know what happened. You probably want to be alone right now, but I just wanted to let you know that if you need to talk, the rest of the guys and I are here for ya, including Morgan." _

Gossip in the crime lab was just like high school gossip – it spread like wildfire. Pretty soon the whole lab knew about it, from CSIs to the most lowly lab tech. Everybody knew.

**XXX**

Morgan sat alone during her lunch break – Danny was out on a case and Zack had the good sense to leave her alone. The other lab techs had asked her to join them for lunch at the diner a block away, but she had declined.

"Mind if I sit down?" a voice asked. Morgan looked up to see that it was Flack. "No." she replied simply.

"I came down to see Stella about a case, wanna hear about it?" Flack said, trying to make small talk. Morgan only rested her head on her chin and shook her head slightly.

"Okay…"

"Did you hear about Aiden?" Morgan said, after almost a minute of silence.

"Err, yeah." Flack answered, not sure what else to say. He was just as surprised as anybody else when he heard about it from Stella.

"Hey, where's Aiden?" he had asked, presuming that she would be on the case with Stella, since Danny and Mac were out in the field on another case.

"She's gone, Flack."

"Gone?"

"She got…let go. By Mac."

Stella was unwilling to go into details, but Flack knew that it had to be something serious for Mac to fire someone, especially someone as capable as Aiden. He didn't even want to think what Aiden had done that got her fired.

"She's not taking my calls, Flack. I'm worried." Morgan said, her face creased into a frown.

"I know her, Morgan. Aiden probably just wants to be alone for a while. When she's ready to talk, she will." Flack replied as he laid a concerned hand on her shoulder. "Right now, we should just concentrate on doing our jobs, okay?"

Morgan briefly brushed her hand with his hand that still rested on her shoulder. "Okay."

Flack felt his heart skip a beat. Why, oh why do such moments always occur at such an inopportune time? He lamented to himself.

**XXX**

The day couldn't pass fast enough for Morgan, who waited for Aiden's phone call all day, to no avail. "When is she ever going to call?" she said, thumping her fist on the table with each word. "Give her some time." It was Mac, who was standing at the doorway of the A/V Lab. "Why did you fire her, Mac?" Morgan asked abruptly, and regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth.

"The integrity of this lab is of utmost importance, Morgan." Mac stated.

"Did Aiden really…"

"No, she didn't. But that's not the point. She admitted she thought of it, and I can't have someone like that handling crucial evidence in my lab. That's why I had to…let her go. Do you understand, Morgan?"

It felt like Mac was talking to a child, the way he spoke – slowly and gently. Hearing this, Morgan nodded slowly. She knew that as their boss, Mac had to ensure that the evidence coming out from this lab was untainted, chain of evidence maintained. Criminals could go free based on questionable evidence, Morgan was clear of that fact. "Yeah, I understand, Mac." She said after a few moments of pondering. Mac left the A/V Lab then, and Morgan thought she caught a hint of sadness and disappointment beneath his silent demeanor.

Two hours later, Morgan was about to sign her name on the log when her cell phone rang. She flipped it open, took a quick glance at the caller ID and nearly yelled into the phone. "Aiden! Are you okay?" Morgan hurriedly signed out of the lab and found a quite corner of the lab to talk to Aiden.

"I'm fine. I just needed some time alone to think. Guess the whole lab knows by now, huh?"

"Yeah, the tongues haven't stopped wagging since morning." Morgan said; her feeble attempt at making a joke.

"Look, I know you're worried, but I'll be okay. In fact, I think I might leave the city for a while."

"What? Where are you gonna go?"

"I don't know yet. Just getting out of New York City would be a nice start."

"Do you want me to come by your place? You know, to talk or something?"

"Nah, I'll be okay. Tell the others for me?"

"Yeah. Will you tell me when you've decided where to go?"

"You bet."

With that, Aiden hung up and Morgan could finally breathe a sigh of relief. She could still hear the sadness in Aiden's voice, but she was a strong person and Morgan knew that she would be able to work things out. The time away from New York City could help Aiden gain a new perspective on her life and think about what to do next. Morgan stood at the elevator for while, her finger hovering over the "down" button. She suddenly broke into a smile and flipped open her cell phone to dial a number.

"Hey, wrapped up your case yet?"


	15. Arrival of the New Girl

**Hey readers! Here's a new chapter, sorry for taking so long…I was thinking of a good way to introduce Lindsay into the fold. Hopefully this cuts it…What do you people think of her? Personally, I kinda like her, but it would be better if she showed off less, eh? Anyway, expect the Flack/Morgan relationship to change in a big way soon! Oh, and please read and review! Thanks for all the positive comments you guys have given me, especially the last few ones...you made my day! Hehe. **

**Disclaimer: _CSI:NY and its characters belong only to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer. _**

**Ep. References/spoilers: _#2.02 – "Grand Murder at Central Station", #2.03 – "Zoo York", #2.05 – "Dancing with the Fishes", #2.06 – "Youngblood"._ (Just being thorough. Hehe)**

* * *

**-Fifteen-**

A month since Aiden was fired, things have returned to normal and a replacement was promptly hired: Lindsay Monroe. Word has it that Mac Taylor personally handpicked her to join the lab when he noticed her involvement on some high-profile case. Morgan didn't know much about her other than the fact that she came from Montana and depending on who you ask, is a very capable CSI or a show-off. She hadn't had the chance to work on a case with Lindsay yet, but Morgan didn't exactly feel like jumping at the chance to be friends with her, yet.

Speaking of Aiden, the last time Morgan heard from her was at least two weeks ago. Last she heard, Aiden was getting ready to take a trip to Florida to visit a couple of friends. Aiden wouldn't say much about her trip, but promised that she would continue to keep in touch with Morgan through e-mails. "You'd better," Morgan threatened jokingly. She had tried to keep in contact with Aiden as much as possible since the latter left the Crime Lab, but Morgan also understood that she needed her space to think about what she wanted to do next. Even though Aiden was no longer a CSI, she was still concerned over the Regina Bowen case and had asked Danny about it a couple of times since she'd left. Sadly, there wasn't any progress. "The worst scenario is, we may have to wait till he strikes again before we can get any evidence against him," Danny had said.

**XXX**

It was a busy day as usual at the crime lab, and Zack was nowhere to be seen. Morgan stepped into the break room and was about to ask one of the Trace Lab techs about his whereabouts when she remembered that he was supposed to be away for about a week for some conference or convention, she wasn't exactly sure and couldn't recall at the moment. Morgan had just got herself a snack bar from the vending machine when she saw Lindsay next to her, rummaging through her pockets for some change to buy a Coke.

"Here." Morgan said, holding out a few coins in her outstretched hand.

"Thanks. I don't think we've met. I'm Lindsay Monroe." Lindsay said, holding out her hand.

Shaking hands with her, Morgan replied, "I know who you are. Morgan Messer, A/V tech."

"Messer? So you're Danny's little sister?"

"So you've heard. No surprise there, everyone here knew within my first day." Somehow, Lindsay felt that Morgan's short and curt replies were a sign that she wasn't that pleased to see Lindsay at all. She wondered if Morgan's aloof attitude had something to do with the CSI she replaced.

"There's also a strong family resemblance between you guys, I can tell." Lindsay replied.

"It's the eyes. Get that a lot." Morgan said with only a hint of a smile. They stood in silence for a few moments as Lindsay turned to the vending machine and deposited the coins into it to get her Coke. "I gotta get back to work. See ya around." Morgan said suddenly and left the break room before Lindsay could say anything more.

Staring after her, Lindsay began to wonder about the CSI she had replaced. She had tried asking some people about it when she first arrived, but no one seemed really willing to talk about it, so Lindsay dropped the topic eventually. She also figured that Danny, Stella and Mac were probably the best people to ask, but she hadn't quite reached that level of familiarity with them yet so she decided to keep quiet. Plus, Lindsay was never the type to gossip. Walking with Danny to the A/V Lab that afternoon, she said to him, "So I met your sister earlier today."

"Mm-hmm?" Danny mumbled as a way of asking Lindsay to go on talking.

"Is she always kind of…aloof?" Lindsay asked.

"All I can say is my hats off to the person who can fully understand my sister. Most of the time, I don't even get why she is the way she is."

"Oh."

"I can tell you this, she's only aloof when she isn't happy about something."

"I'm getting the feeling that it's because of the CSI I replaced."

They arrived at the A/V Lab at that very moment and Danny answered, "Let's get down to work, shall we?" Lindsay wondered if she would never find out about the person she replaced – ever. Danny saw his sister at the other end of the room and told Lindsay to go ahead and run through the surveillance tape for their case first.

"Hey, little sister."

"Hey. What brings you here?" Morgan greeted her brother cheerily, and only vaguely acknowledged Lindsay's presence with barely a nod.

"I'm working on my own case. Guy gets shot in his own penthouse and there's a possible witness. Lucky me, I get to find her. What are you working on?"

"Missing child, possibly abducted. Detective Scagnetti tells me the parents are battling for custody and the mom's in the wind."

"Scagnetti, huh?"

"Yeah. I swear every time I hear his name I feel like having spaghetti."

"Yeah? Me, I prefer to call him Detective Prada." Morgan raised an amused eyebrow at this remark, and then practically pushed him away to let her get on with her job at hand. "Go do your own job, Danny."

"Be happy that you don't have to go to fish markets again," Morgan added, teasing Danny about a case he handled a week ago. He was about to walk over back to where Lindsay was, but hearing his sister make a jab about that, Danny couldn't help but come back with a rebuttal. "Ha-ha. Very funny. Speaking of that, my wardrobe still reeks of fish. You sure you got the smell outta the clothes I wore that day?"

"Oh, stop complaining, Danny. It's just fish, not even decomposing flesh! And I got the smell out completely; you should get your nose checked out."

**XXX**

A while later, Danny and Lindsay identifies their witness as a student from Delmore, a prep school. They also spot a person of interest getting into the elevator shortly before their victim was killed. Unfortunately, they were unable to positively identify the man as he had his hat low over his face. Nevertheless, before Danny and Lindsay left to track down their witness, he asked Morgan if she could scan through the surveillance tape again – see if she can't pull up some video frames and work on ID'ing the guy.

"Yeah, sure. I'll get to it when I finish processing this tape."

"I know it's not much to work with, but just try, okay? I owe ya." Danny said.

"Yeah, you owe me. I expect something good in return."

"Ha-ha."

Later, Lindsay attempts to make a little small talk while on the car ride, hoping to get to know her colleague a little better. Unfortunately for her, getting to know Danny has been somewhat of a challenge. But she knew if she probed any further, she would probably earn his dislike instead. Observing the exchange between Danny and Morgan earlier surprised Lindsay, for she could tell – like everybody else – that the siblings have a very close and comfortable relationship with each other and Danny didn't exactly seem like the type to get close to people. Hell, he was even hard to get along with sometimes. When she first found out about Morgan, Lindsay had assumed that they were the type of siblings that spent more time hating each other than getting along; but watching Danny with his sister earlier led Lindsay to see a different side of him – he seemed less guarded and more relaxed. Even that short bickering session among Danny and Morgan revealed a lot about their relationship – though they loved pushing each other's buttons, it was clear they had a strong bond, which was probably further reinforced by the fact that they were both working in the Crime Lab. Only someone in a similar profession would be able to understand what CSIs like them have to go through, day in day out.

"How did your sister come to work in the same place as you?" Lindsay asked during the car ride back to the lab. As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Danny looked at her, expressionless but his mouth was closed tightly. He turned back to focusing on driving without even answering.

"I'm just curious…but if you don't feel like answering – "

"It's no secret. Lab needed a last minute replacement, she came in, and that's it." Danny replied without ever taking his eyes off the road.

"Oh."

While Danny and Lindsay were fast reaching a dead end on their case, Morgan was just about ready to conclude hers. Over poring over various surveillance tapes from stores and gas stations in the vicinity where the child in question was thought to have been taken from after school, she got a breakthrough. It seems that the mother did take the child in an attempt to flee the city together so that her ex-husband couldn't find them. "Divorces are messy indeed," she quipped after she presented her findings to Detective Scagnetti. With that out of the way, she was free to help Danny on his case. "But first, a coffee break. Oooh, I need caffeine!" Morgan muttered under her breath as she brisk-walked over to the break room.

While there, someone caught her attention. He was very tall, about 6 feet or more with short hair and had a lab coat on. For a moment, Morgan wondered if he was a new lab tech or even a new CSI. "Whatever it is, I hope he's good-looking," she said to herself. Even though her sights were now set on Flack, she was still a single girl after all and which single girl doesn't fancy some eye-candy every once in a while? The guy retrieved his drink from the vending machine and turned around, while Morgan waited expectantly to see his face.

"Flack? It's you!" She said in surprise the moment she saw his face. "Why are you wearing a lab coat? Thinking of a change in work description?"

"Me, a CSI? Oh, hell no."

Flack was here to help out Mac in his case, the same one Danny and Lindsay were working on. While they chased down witnesses, Mac and Flack were in the Ballistics lab trying to figure what type of weapon the suspect used to shoot their victim. Apparently the weapon was a highly unconventional one, and the two of them had to test fire an array of bizarre specimens – it was most likely that the suspect made his own weapon.

"Good luck trying to find your weapon," Morgan said as she finished getting her coffee and they walked out of the break room together. "And by the way, you look good in a lab coat." She added as they went in opposite directions: Morgan back to the A/V lab and Flack to the Ballistics lab. After hearing Morgan say that of him, Flack gave himself the once-over and muttered, "I do look nice in a lab coat."

After another two hours of viewing surveillance footage from Danny's case, Morgan was ready to throw in the towel. There was no way she could positively identify their potential suspect, except that his body language looked strange when he exited, presumably after he'd killed the victim. Moments later, a call came in. Morgan picked up the lab phone and nearly barked into the receiver. "A/V lab." It was Lindsay, calling to see if she'd found anything. No matter who it was on the other end, Morgan would've exploded anyway.

"No, I've got nothing. Nothing! After looking at the damn thing for two hours, I still can't ID this stupid guy!"

For Lindsay, it was a classic case of wrong person, wrong time. And also, the wrong question. "Are you sure? Maybe you missed something."

"I don't _miss_ things, okay? If you're that good, why don't you come and take over? I hear you're really good at what you do." With that, Morgan hung up the phone and pounded her head on the table. She regretted her words almost immediately, but she was so miffed at herself that she'd exploded at the first person she talked to – unfortunately for Lindsay, she was the first. "_Now _she's gonna think I've got something against her. Well, technically I do, because she's not Aiden but – "

"What?" she growled when she heard a knock at the door that interrupted her rambling. "Did I come at a bad time?" It was Lindsay, who hovered at the door without stepping inside.

"No, but your timing could be better." Immediately, Lindsay began to look embarrassed and Morgan nearly wanted to slap herself for her attitude.

"Lindsay, look – I'm sorry for the things I said over the phone. I just tend to get a little sarcastic when I get all…pissy."

Lindsay couldn't help but chuckle at Morgan's choice of words. "Did you get that from Danny?"

"Oh, you'd be amazed at the colorful language I've picked up from him. Shh, don't tell him though." With that, the two ladies smiled at each other and the ice seemed to be broken. However there was still one thing that bothered Lindsay – Aiden. "Morgan, can I ask you something?"

"Err…I guess."

"Does your attitude towards me have anything to do with the CSI I replaced?"

"Honestly?" Lindsay nodded. "Yeah. Because you simply weren't her."

"You guys were close?" Morgan replied that she'd become close with Aiden through Danny, and that she was the few people in the lab that treated her normally, compared to the rest of the lab that treated her as "Danny's sister."

"Now I get it," Lindsay said with a smile. "I guess we're cool now?"

Morgan shrugged. "I guess."

Danny walked in just then and asked, "Tell me you have something, Morgan." She immediately shot her brother a death glare and said, "You owe me big time. Now, I'm going to get a drink, and think about how you should repay me."

"What's with her?" Danny asked with a clueless expression. "Don't ask," was Lindsay's reply.

"Since when did you two become friends? I didn't get the memo."


	16. To Catch a Killer

This is _the _chapter you guys have been waiting for (I hope?). Hehe. I meant to tie it all up in one chapter, but I decided to go with a sort-of cliffhanger. Why sort of? Because the next chapter is riiight behind! Please tell me what you think of this chapter, thank you!

_**PucktoFaerie:** I don't think Lindsay's stuck-up, but I think she could try to be less of a smarty-pants. Lol. Oh, and thank you for that really great comment you left me on Chapter 14. You sure made my day/ **Secret4eyes:** You asked, and you shall get! Keep reading... / **Becs:** Sorry, dear. I don't think I'll ever be doing any DnA... In reality, I like the Flack/Aiden ship more. Hehe. / **Axellia:** Thanks for the nice comment, and hope you like my latest update. _

_**To all the others I didn't name**: I didn't forget you! Thanks all the same for all the comments, they've helped a lot._

XXX

**_Disclaimer: _CSI: NY and its characters belong only to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer.**

**_Ep. references/spoilers: _CSI: Miami #4.07 - "Felony Flight", CSI: NY #2.07 - "Manhattan Manhunt" and a leeetle mention of CSI: Miami/CSI: NY - "MIA/NYC-Nonstop".**

* * *

**-6ixteen-**

Monday morning. Morgan Messer arrived at work to the news that Henry Darius, a criminal that was incarcerated at Rikers Island in New York, had escaped from police custody in Miami-Dade County, Florida. He had been extradited there so that he could assist Miami-Dade PD in locating the remains of Lydia Johnson, a woman that Darius claimed to have murdered there a year ago. Henry Darius had caused the Federal plane that he was traveling in to crash by killing the pilot, co-pilot as well as the U.S. Marshall Officer that was guarding him. Within minutes of arriving in Miami, Henry Darius had already left seven bodies in his wake and Miami-Dade PD on his trail.

Morgan didn't just know Henry Darius through news reports or what Danny had briefly mentioned to her; she had seen the taped confession and testimony that had granted him extradition rights herself. She had to, for Mac Taylor had asked Morgan to make a duplicate copy to send over to the people over at Miami-Dade PD. That was less than a week ago, but she still remembered what Henry Darius said in the tape. How could she forget? His dead expression and the lack of remorse he showed towards the people he had murdered in cold blood still gave her the chills whenever she thought about it. Now, Mac had to fly down to Miami as soon as possible and meet with Lieutenant Horatio Caine to assist in tracking Henry Darius down. Apparently, Mac had personally dealt with him before and Miami-Dade PD needed all the help they could get in finding Henry Darius, for he had taken the slain U.S. Marshall Officer's gun and was classified as "armed and dangerous".

Meanwhile, over in New York, Mac and the rest of the team were working feverishly to compile files on Henry Darius, so that the Miami CSIs could go through them as well. They needed to know why he had decided to own up to the murder in Miami, if he had an ulterior motive for going back to Miami. Soon after that, Mac left for La Guardia Airport and boarded a plane for Miami. Before Mac left, he instructed Morgan to take a second look at the taped confession that Darius made. "Try and look for any clues in his words or body language. Any small clue may help us find him. If you find anything, contact Miami-Dade PD immediately."

Morgan grimaced at the thought of having to listen to his confession again. Just then, Lindsay appeared at the door of the A/V Lab. The two of them had gotten to know each other better over the past week, and Morgan had slowly gotten over the fact that Lindsay had taken over Aiden's job. To Danny, this new friendship meant that they often teamed up and made jabs at him frequently – much to his chagrin.

"Need any help?" Lindsay asked.

"Oh, thank God. Yes. I don't think I can handle watching this video alone once more."

**XXX**

Unfortunately, Mac and Lt. Horatio Caine had been unable to track down Henry Darius in Miami with several close calls – Darius had always managed to keep one step ahead of time each time. By the time they tracked him down to a sorority house at Miami University, it was too late – he had already killed two girls looking for one Alexa Endecott. There was a survivor and she told CSI Calleigh Duquesne that Alexa was out at the time. But Mac and Horatio once again narrowly missed running into Henry Darius; he'd already gotten to Alexa and pretty soon he was on his way back to New York with her as his hostage. Henry Darius was coming back to New York to "make things right". This brought the total body count to ten. Seven, at the crash site, the two co-eds and a woman he had shot to get her car as a getaway vehicle.

Mac realizes that Alexa Endecott is the daughter and heiress of a very prominent family in New York, and Henry Darius may have targeted her because of that. However, he still could not figure out what the cold-blooded killer meant by making things right in New York. Together with Horatio Caine, Mac arrives back in New York and immediately sets out to the Endecott residence in Manhattan, joined by Stella. Once again, they were unable to get there before Darius went on another killing spree. He had brought Alexa back with her because he needed her hand to access the vault in her home, which uses a 'Palm Vein Authentication System'. However, the money he was expecting to find wasn't in the vault. Fuming with anger, he shot Alexa on the spot, as well as five prep school students – friends of Alexa's sister – who were partying at the apartment. The three cops arrive to see blood smeared all over the walls of the Endecott residence – Henry Darius' M.O. was "playing" in his victims' blood. Soon after, Don Flack, Danny, Hawkes and Lindsay arrive at the scene. The CSIs immediately get down to processing the scene while Flack took down notes, located Alexa's sister Sarah who was absent at the scene and put out an ABP in the Tri-State area. While at the scene, Lindsay is asked to return to the lab to handle the processing of Trace evidence. She was at first protested Mac's decision but later realized that Mac was probably trying to cover all his bases. After all, Lindsay was still new to New York and this was a very high-profile case – one couldn't blame Mac for being cautious.

Back at the lab, Mac directs Danny to work on the Endecott's vault security system and asks Morgan to lend a hand.

"Mac, I know this case is the main priority right now, but I'm working on something for Detective Thacker."

A child of wealthy background had been kidnapped that morning, and a ransom phone call had already come in. The recorded phone call had just been delivered to Morgan a half hour earlier. "I don't think it can wait." Morgan said.

"I agree. It can't wait. Okay, do whatever you have to but-"

"Don't worry, Mac," Morgan cut in politely. "I'll still help Danny in any way I can, if he needs it."

**XXX**

Morgan stepped into the break room to catch a breather from working on her phone recording, and witnessed Flack being borderline abusive to the coffee vending machine.

"Coffee not to your liking?"

"Oh, hey. Coffee just wouldn't come out," Flack said, visibly embarrassed that somebody, especially Morgan saw him venting his frustration.

She led him to the chairs nearby and inspected the vending machine briefly. "You didn't deposit enough coins, Flack." Morgan then dug into her own pocket, deposited the remaining amount of change needed and asked, "Black?" Flack nodded and she pressed the corresponding button.

"Here." Morgan said gently, placing the cup onto the table which Flack then picked up and took a big, slow sip out of it. "Wanna talk about what's bothering you?" She asked. He remained silent, so Morgan tried to make small talk for a moment. "I ran into that cop from Miami-Dade PD, Lieutenant Horatio Caine?"

Lt. Caine had ducked into the A/V Lab to make a personal call while she was listening to the audio tape on earphones. He was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice Morgan working at the computer terminal until he'd ended his call. "Sorry if I interrupted you," he had said apologetically. Morgan took off her earphones and told him that he did not intrude in any way, who in turn politely introduced himself.

"Horatio Caine, Miami-Dade PD."

"Lieutenant Caine, I've heard a lot about you. I'm Morgan Messer. Any chance that you were named after Horatio Alger?" she asked politely, and he confirmed that he was.

"I take it that you're Detective Messer's sister?" Morgan nodded with a smile. Just then, he received a page from Stella. Lt. Caine excused himself and exited the A/V Lab as quickly as he came.

"I still remember what Danny told me about him the first time he came down here to help on a case – he came down personally so that he could fulfill his promise to the victims' daughter. Not a lot of cops would do that…" Morgan trailed off when she realized that Flack probably wasn't even listening. She nudged him a little to make sure if he was paying attention and said, "Earth to Flack."

"Henry Darius." Flack said suddenly. "That son-of-a-bitch has been on a killing spree, including his hostage from Miami, Alexa Endecott. He's _still_ in the wind."

"Every cop in New York City is searching for Henry Darius. You'll find him, Flack." Morgan said comfortingly. Clearly, it didn't help much. Prior to arriving at the Endecott's luxurious Manhattan apartment, he'd gone through Darius's case file about the nurses that he murdered; the case that got him imprisoned in the first place. He'd known that Darius's M.O is as bloody as they come, but that still didn't prepare him for the bloodbath that awaited Lt. Caine, Mac, Stella and him. It was an image that he wouldn't be able to get rid for at least a week, the sight of five kids lying on the floor dead due to gunshot wounds and their arms held behind their backs. What he had trouble getting over was the fact that they were just kids. Flack had always been seen as the tough guy and he did a pretty good job of keeping his tough demeanor up at the crime scene. Now that he was alone, he felt that he was free to vent his frustration about not being able to save those kids in time and track down Henry Darius before he can do more damage.

"What if we don't? What if he kills more people?" Flack said, clenching his fists on the table.

Morgan placed a comforting hand on his clenched fist and felt him relax under her warm touch. "Flack, don't think that. Think of all the future victims that you'll be saving from Darius's hands, think of what you're ridding the city of if you find him." The two of them sat at the table, Flack's hand unknowingly holding her hand in his as they gazed into each other's eyes for a long moment.

"Ahem," A suggestive cough was heard at the entrance of the break room. They immediately broke away and saw Mac standing there. "Flack, we've got a lead about Sarah Endecott, let's go." Mac said and Flack took one last sip of his coffee, threw the empty cup into the trash can and exited the break room without making eye contact with either Mac or Morgan; who called out to Mac as he followed Flack out. Knowing him, he wouldn't tell anyone about seeing Flack and her holding hands, but she still needed to be sure.

"Mac, could you – "

"I didn't see anything." He said with a small smile, and he and Flack left to confer with Stella on their next step.

**XXX**

After the shocking revelation that Henry Darius and Alexa Endecott were related by blood – Tom Endecott had fathered both of them, and Darius' mother was someone he had a brief fling with years ago. Now Mac understood why he had brought Alexa back here – to take the $3 million meant for Alexa, which he felt was rightfully his. Having figured out his next step, Mac and Horatio made it back to the Endecott's residence in time – sure enough, Henry Darius turns up looking for Sarah. As soon as Sarah opened the door for him, he is treated to the sight of Horatio pointing his gun in Darius' face. It is all over.

With Henry Darius finally in custody, Flack could rest easy tonight – except for one more thing. He didn't know if he was reading too much into it, but Flack had felt something when Morgan was holding his hand and looking into his eyes in the CSI break room earlier. This was the first time that he was at least 90 percent sure that Morgan felt the same way about him. Flack left the precinct and drove straight to the Crime Lab; he wasn't going to wait around second-guessing himself anymore. _To hell with subtlety, all this guessing is driving me crazy. I need to know how she feels about me – now. _Frankly, he was getting quite sick of being passive but couldn't quite muster up the courage to aggressive pursue Morgan, and also because he could never be sure if she was interested in him the same way he was about her. Once he pulled up outside the lab, Flack very nearly dashed through the doors of the Crime Lab. He had to get this over with before he lost all his bravado. Heading for the front desk, Flack asked the receptionist if Morgan had left yet. "No," she answered and he took off for the A/V Lab. _Hurry, Don! I feel the attack of the cold feet coming on soon…_

He finally arrived at the A/V Lab and let out a relieved sigh when he saw Morgan sitting at her computer terminal. "Hey," she said with a smile upon noticing him, "I thought the case has already wrapped up, what are you doing here?"

Flack took a couple of breaths before speaking, and Morgan noticed his nervousness. _Oh god, cold feet's here._

"What is it, Flack?"

"I need to ask you a question." He said quickly. In fact, he spoke so fast that Morgan nearly couldn't catch what he was saying.

"O…kay, shoot." She replied, unsure of what was about to come. "You're acting very strangely, is something wrong?" she asked, when he didn't say anything for a long moment. Flack started pacing the floor for a few seconds, as Morgan pretended not to notice and turned her attention back to the computer.

"Morgan,"

"Yes…?" she said without looking up, thinking that if she does not make eye contact with him, Flack might be able to say what he wanted.

"I need to know how you feel about me. Now."

* * *


	17. And Morgan's Answer Is?

**-Se7enteen-**

This was something Morgan was not expecting at all. Flack's outburst was so unexpected that her first reaction was a nervous chuckle. "I-I'm sorry…what…?"

Flack's face immediately turned into a bright shade of pink, but he took one more deep breath. Now that the words were out, he couldn't turn back – he had to get an answer today, or he'll never have the guts to open his mouth again. "I said, I need to know your feelings towards me."

"It's just – I can't take it anymore. I know how I feel about you, but I don't know if you even have feelings for me and it's driving me nuts."

Morgan looked up at him with a big smile on her face, but she still didn't say a word. She was, in fact, feeling very pleased that Flack had finally taken that big step forward. Morgan wanted to say a lot of things to him, but somehow those words got stuck between her brain and her mouth – they just wouldn't come out.

"W-What's with the smile?" Flack said nervously, his bravado fading fast. "Just answer me – do you have feelings for me or not? Yes or no?" He said in an almost demanding tone. Morgan's smile faded and her expression turned serious. Flack began to prepare himself for a negative answer when –

"Yes."

"W-Wha…t?"

"I said, yes."

If there was a couch lying around at this moment, Flack would so totally jump on it and rejoice. He hadn't felt this happy in a long time. If Aiden were around, she probably would've given him a big pat on the back, saying, "Well done, Flack! You finally did it!" He broke into a big, goofy smile and seeing this, Morgan did likewise – minus the goofiness, of course. "One more question." Flack said. Morgan looked at him with a bemused smile and nodded for him to continue.

"Since when?" Then, after looking at her raised eyebrow Flack added, "I'm sorry, I just had to know."

Morgan let out an embarrassed laugh as she replied, "I don't know, it just…happened."

"Well, that's nice to hear." Flack quipped. Just then, Morgan's cell phone rang. _Oh, great. What a time for the phone to ring. _Flack thought to himself. There was no way he could continue with this conversation after she ended her phone call – he would be too embarrassed! "Morgan." She said into the phone. Morgan listened to the caller for a few moments before replying, "I'll be done in a half hour, and your people can come by and pick up the report then." She hung up and suddenly became aware of the big revelation between Flack and her. Before the call came, it hadn't yet sunk in that things between her and Flack were about to change in a big way. Now that Morgan had been jolted back into reality, she knew that there was no turning back now that she and Flack had had "the talk", so to speak. She looked up at Flack, saw his bashful expression and knew that she felt the same way too. Nevertheless, Flack tried to bring things back to normal – by making small talk.

"So, uh, who was that?"

"Uh, Detective Thacker. He wanted to know if my report on the ransom phone call was done yet."

"Oh." Realizing that his presence was keeping her from completing her work, Flack began to excuse himself – and also giving him a chance to flee this embarrassing situation. He almost couldn't believe that he'd actually gotten a girl to reveal her feelings for him in this way. "I'll, uh, let you get back to work." Morgan nodded and shifted her gaze back to the computer screen, where she began to type on the keyboard. Flack had his back turned and was about to make his run for the exit when she suddenly spoke.

"How long has it been?" Flack whirled around and caught her gaze. Morgan cleared her throat nervously and added, "You know, since–"

She wanted to say the words, "since you started to have feelings for me", but couldn't quite bring herself to say it for some reason. Instead, she could only nod suggestively, hoping that Flack would get the hint. He turned back around to face the door and Morgan took that as a sign that he wasn't going to answer her question. "Never mind," she muttered under her breath and tried to concentrate on getting her report done instead. However, without turning around, Morgan could still tell that Flack hadn't yet left the room. Just as she was about to turn around, he appeared, standing at her side. Flack placed his hands on both arms of the chair and turned it towards him.

"Flack-" Morgan started to say, and he started to place one hand on her cheek. "My answer is,"

"Since the day I met you." Flack finished. He leaned forward as he pushed her chin up slightly, and Morgan slowly closed her eyes, their lips meeting in a sweet kiss. Both of them pulled back after a moment, and gazed at each other as if that special moment would disappear if they took their eyes off each other. As if on cue, her cell phone beeped, and they looked away in different directions – both of their faces turning pink. Thankfully, there was no one around to see this.

"It's Thacker. ETA of his guy is 20 minutes." Remembering that she still had a job to do, Flack reluctantly exited the A/V Lab. "Will you call me when you're done?" He asked, and she nodded with such a sweet smile that he had to will himself to _not _kiss her again.

Seconds after he walked out, Morgan heard footsteps shuffling toward the A/V Lab and she was half expecting Danny to come bursting in – some part of her actually felt like she'd done something wrong. Luckily, it wasn't Danny – it was Flack. "Did you forget something?" Morgan asked and he shook his head. "Then what is it?"

"Danny doesn't know, does he?" Amused that he'd come back just to ask her this, Morgan started to laugh as she shook her head.

"Good. Because if he knew, he'd probably shoot me."


	18. A Bouquet of Teddy Bears

FLUFF alert! Yes, this is a very fluffy chapter and according to my friend, a very SQUEE-worthy one too. Hehe. I hope my recent slew of chapters is enough to hold you guys off till end of the week, because I still have some schoolwork to complete and I can no longer procrastinate.

Thanks to all who have reviewed my newest chapters, I love you all! Heehee.

**Disclaimer: **_CSI: NY belongs to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer only. But I wish I owned Flack and Danny, hehe._

**Ep. references/spoilers: **_None in this chapter..._

Read and review, please!

* * *

**-8ighteen-**

Morgan signed out of the lab half an hour later with a smile on her face. When one of the lab techs asked why, she simply replied, "Nothing," and pressed the 'down' button at the elevator. Once downstairs, Morgan was about to reach into her bag to retrieve her cell phone when the sound of a car horn caught her attention. She instinctively turned towards the direction of the sound and was surprised to see Flack standing outside his car a few feet away. "I was waiting for your call," Flack said as Morgan hurried towards him.

"I was going to," she answered. Then, seeing the pleased smile on his face she asked, "What?"

"Nothin'. I'm just happy."

"Me too," Morgan said, smiling up at him. "Come on, I'll take you home."

They got into Flack's car but he didn't start the car immediately.

"Before we drive off, I need to do something first."

Flack told Morgan to close her eyes. With her eyes still closed, Morgan asked what he was getting up to but Flack said to be patient.

"Morgan…"

"Yes?" She asked, wondering if she could open her eyes already. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Her eyes immediately flew open as she faced Flack, and saw him holding a bouquet of… "Teddy bears?" Morgan said.

After Flack left the lab when Morgan had to get back to work, he decided to wait in his car for her and dropped by the nearby café to get a cup of coffee. He passed by a flower shop and went in as he thought of getting a bouquet of flowers for her. But as he looked around the shop, Flack realized that he had no idea which flowers Morgan would like. Therefore when the florist showed him a special product – a bouquet made up of a dozen little teddy bears – Flack bought it immediately.

"Sorry. Didn't know what flowers you'd like."

"Oh, don't be. I would've picked this over flowers anyway." Morgan said and leaned over to give Flack a kiss on the cheek. "And did you even have to ask?"

"I just wanted to make it official," Flack replied with a sheepish expression. He handed the bouquet over to Morgan and she said, "Well, my answer is yes, of course."

Flack then reached over and held Morgan's hand in his as they looked in each other's eyes, both flashing smiles of happiness. After a long moment, Morgan broke the silence. "Um, Flack? You might wanna start driving."

"Oh, right. Yeah, okay." Flack said as he fumbled with his keys and stuck it into the ignition.

**XXX**

Flack drove up to the apartment building where Morgan and Danny lived. Morgan quickly got out and glanced around and upwards in the direction of their apartment while she held out a hand, signaling Flack to stay in the car. "What's with the sneaky look?" he joked and Morgan stared at him, stating that she was just trying to be careful. "Danny might be home, looking out the window," she said. Morgan had a taste of that one too many times so she knew what to expect.

During the car ride, Flack and Morgan agreed that they would keep their relationship secret from everyone else for the time being, especially from Danny. Morgan had no idea how her brother would react to this news, so she wanted to wait till she was ready to tell him. Ever since that talk they had some time ago about the possibility of Morgan dating Flack – which has now become a reality – Danny never brought that up again. So, either he would blow his top and kick Flack's ass or he would give them his blessings. Somehow, Morgan felt that Danny wouldn't be the happiest person on earth if he had found out because he reacted none too happily to an earlier boyfriend of hers as well. Now that it was Flack, chances are Danny's reaction would be more, not less agitated. Most men wouldn't take too well to their friends dating their younger sisters.

"Should I start calling you Don?" Morgan asked suddenly. She had just realized that having known him for many months, Morgan had never called Flack by his first name before. She had tried calling him 'Don' in her head many times before, but it never seemed right – it felt a little weird in fact. They got out of the car and walked towards the apartment building, holding hands. "You know, it doesn't matter what you call me. I happen to like the way you call me 'Flack'."

"Yeah? Why?"

"I don't know, it sounds…nice. Besides, 'Don' only serves to remind that it's short for 'Donald'."

"Okay then, Flack." Morgan laughed.

They stopped a few feet away from the entrance and Flack asked if he could take Morgan out to dinner tomorrow, for their first date. "Sure." She replied and happily planted a kiss on his cheek once again. "You realize we've kissed three times and we haven't even been on a single date yet," Flack joked. He then pulled her close and lowered his head to kiss her gently on the lips. "And this makes four." He finished, leaving Morgan with a big smile on her face. "Now you've got that goofy smile too," Flack said.

"Yeah, so do you."

The two of them said their goodbyes and Morgan walked up to her apartment building with the teddy bear bouquet in her hands. How _am I going to get this past Danny if he's already home? Guess I should've called home to check first,_ Morgan said to herself while on the way up, in the elevator. She reached her floor and flipped open her cell phone, pushing the speed dial button for the apartment phone number. No answer. _He could be in the bathroom;_ Morgan thought and slowly got to the front door. She tried opening the door, but it was locked. Usually if Danny got home before she did, he would leave the door unlocked. Morgan prayed that Danny was indeed out and unlocked the front door. Calling out her brother's name as she entered, Morgan checked out Danny's room, bathroom and kitchen. No sign of Danny. Heaving a sigh of relief as she went into her room, Morgan reached into the closet for a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

She emerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later and returned to her room. Morgan picked up the teddy bear bouquet she had left sitting on the bed and fingered the bears individually. Flack couldn't have picked a better gift. It was better than flowers – it wouldn't wither and die within a few days. This token marking the start of their relationship would last for ages to come. Morgan held the bouquet in her hand as she thought of a spot to place it. She needn't worry about Danny discovering this, for he rarely entered her room. The last time he had done that was years ago and Morgan had chewed his ear off so badly that he swore off ever going into her room again. Even if he saw it, Morgan could say that it was a gift from some friend – hopefully he'd buy that excuse. She settled on a spot on her bedside table and gently placed it atop the surface. Then, Morgan went out into the kitchen.

"When did you get back?" Danny was sitting on the couch and sipping from a bottle of beer. Not expecting Danny's presence in the apartment, Morgan nearly let out a scream.

"When did _you_ get back? I didn't hear you come in. And would you please stop behaving like a ghost?"

"I got back ten minutes ago."

Morgan took out a packet of chips from the cupboard and joined Danny on the couch. She and Flack had stopped at a diner for some food before heading home, but Morgan still felt hungry. She settled onto the couch with her legs crossed and offered some chips to Danny, who grabbed a handful while they watched the news together. Morgan eyed her brother constantly, wondering if she should drop the bombshell on him sooner than later because on hindsight, Danny would definitely be mad that he wasn't the first person she told about her dating Flack. Yes, Danny can really contradict himself sometimes – he'd be mad about the relationship either way. But, right then and there, Morgan decided to keep her brother in the dark for now. Perhaps she could drop _very _subtle hints here and there to test his reaction. In the meantime, she and Flack had to be very discreet. They couldn't risk someone from the crime lab finding out: some of them had very loose tongues and the news would reach Danny in under an hour in those circumstances.

After the news ended, the siblings returned to their respective rooms; but not before arguing over who should empty the trash. Finally, it was Danny who lost the argument. He gathered up the trash bag and headed for the rubbish chute outside. Morgan took this chance to dash into her room to make a quick call to Flack. "Hey, I just wanted to call and say goodnight,"

"And I'm really glad that…this…happened between us."

"Me too." Flack answered. Before he could say more, Morgan interrupted by saying that Danny was back from taking out the trash. He stood outside her door and yelled that he wasn't going to empty the trash anymore this week. "Yeah, we'll see about that." Morgan yelled back.

"How is that you guys are so close and yet can't stop get along?" Flack asked, amused at the situation. "That is exactly why we can't get along; we know each other too well." Morgan answered.

"Maybe I could come by the break room tomorrow and we can have a bite together or somethin'." Flack suggested. Morgan gasped audibly in mock horror. "Ya know, as _friends._" He added, exaggerating that last word.

"Now you're the sneaky one."

"It's risky, dating you, you know. I have to be careful 'cuz Danny might shoot my ass off."

* * *


	19. The First Week

**_Major developments up ahead for this story...which would build towards the ending. So, be prepared. Hehe. Please read and review, you know I love those! And thanks for reading..._**

_**Ep. spoilers/references: **#2.08 - "Bad Beat"._

* * *

**-9ineteen-**

Morgan awoke one morning to the sound of her brother slamming the cabinets in the kitchen. Stealing a glance at her bedside clock, she saw that Danny woke up earlier than usual. _Early morning callout, maybe? _Morgan thought to herself as she yawned. She decided to head to the bathroom to wash up and brush her teeth before going to the kitchen to see why Danny was abusing the furniture again.

"Danny…what the hell are you doing?" Morgan said. He slammed a cabinet shut and mumbled about looking for something. It was then that she realized that her brother was standing in the middle of the kitchen without a shirt on. She grimaced, in an exaggerated way and demanded that Danny go put on his shirt. "The first thing I see in the morning is my brother standing half-naked in the kitchen. Oh, this is a start of a _great_ day." Morgan said sarcastically.

"Why are you up so early, anyway?" She said, snatching the butter knife from him and pushed him out of the kitchen.

"Got called out to a scene, Flack's coming to pick me up."

Morgan tried very hard to suppress her smile. "He is, huh?" She said nonchantly. "Why can't you drive your own car?"

"Been having some problems, no idea what's wrong."

"Danny, for the last time, please go put on a shirt!"

"What, it's not like I'm fat with a big beer belly."

"I don't care if you have a body like Christian Bale in 'Batman Begins', you're my brother and it's disturbing to see you half-naked, so say the least."

Danny, defeated, headed back to his bedroom to finish putting on his clothes while Morgan remained in the kitchen to prepare a sandwich for him to eat on the way to the crime scene. Barely a minute later, Danny yelled from his bedroom, "Hey, watch the stove!" and Morgan glanced at the stove, getting the point that he was in the midst of boiling some water so she didn't respond.

"Hey, did you hear me?" Danny yelled again. "Yes I did, I'm not deaf!"

"Damn, he can be such a pain in the ass," she mumbled to herself.

Five minutes later, Danny was still in his room so Morgan knew that he was probably having some kind of a "wardrobe crisis". At the same time, the doorbell rang. She was still in the kitchen, but she knew that Danny probably unlocked the front door already. Plus, it had to be Flack so Morgan called out, "Door's unlocked, come in!" and continued to prepare the sandwich. She heard the door open and close. "I'm in the kitchen," she called.

"Whoo. You look good even in pajamas," said Flack, who was standing by the kitchen door. "That's awfully sweet of you," Morgan replied, with a smile that implied that she didn't believe him.

"Don't look like that, I'm not lying." He said, as he went towards her and gave her a quick kiss. Flack extended his arms hoping to envelop her in a hug but Morgan stopped him and whispered, "Danny's already got his gun holstered on, I don't want bullet holes in the walls,"

He pretended to look hurt. "And in you," she added.

Flack and Morgan had now been dating each other for the past week or so, and they had spent most of that week trying to hide their relationship from the world. This was especially hard on them because they felt like announcing it, but knew that if they did it would be as good as telling Danny themselves. Morgan wasn't ready to break the news to Danny, so was Flack and he said he was absolutely willing to wait till she was. Flack suspected that Mac knew something though, because he had come to the lab on official business once and met up with Morgan for a short chat at the break room when Mac saw them. Somehow, Flack felt that Mac had this knowing look in his eyes but never brought it up with him. _Why risk it? _Flack thought.

"You look terrible," Morgan said after she and Flack sat down at the table. She stood up a moment later because the kettle started whistling and she went to turn off the stove.

"Got called to a scene at 3.00 am, had to go door-to-door asking people if they'd seen or heard anything," Morgan was about to ask how that went when he added, "Don't ask me how that went." She shrugged and began to fill three mugs with instant coffee mix and hot water. "I guess lunch is a bust huh?" Morgan said.

Mac, Stella and Flack had been called to an apartment in the Upper East Side; a group of friends playing poker threw a player out for cheating and seconds later the host gets hit with a shotgun in the face. For now, the prime suspect seems to be the ejected player named Kelly. Lindsay was also at the scene, but being the new girl, she got assigned to dumpster duty. Fortunately, her dumpster-diving mission paid off: Lindsay managed to dig up the suspect's torn jacket and a shotgun. Meanwhile, Flack had the unenviable task of interviewing the neighbors. The first person he had encountered was as oblivious as hell, Flack thought he was about to get a heart attack just asking him questions. "Did you call 911?" He had asked. "No. Why?" The man answered.

Frustrated, Flack decided to move on to the next apartment. This woman was even worse, demanding that Flack answer her question, "Do you know what time it is?" and even threatened to sue the department for harassment. That was the last thing the lady said before slamming the door in his face. "You have a good night now," Flack said to the door. The last one was the worst; a portly middle-aged man answered the door clad in only his underpants. Flack's mouth dropped open in surprise or maybe even horror and told the man, "Never mind. Carry on sir," before helping him to close his front door. Soon afterwards, Mac and Stella had finished processing the scene and Flack managed to go back to his apartment to get some sleep and a change of clothes before starting work this morning. He'd gotten maybe two hours of sleep before Danny called his cell phone, asking if Flack could give him a ride. Even though he was working on a different case as Danny, Flack still agreed to give him a ride to his crime scene when Danny asked because 1) it was on the way to the precinct, 2) he could get to see Morgan and 3) Danny had asked him in a sort of demanding way, like he didn't leave room for Flack to say no.

"I wouldn't be too sure," Flack said confidently. "Are you saying that you'll crack your case by lunchtime?" Morgan replied doubtfully. "Hey, all I'm sayin' is, a man's gotta eat."

"And see his girlfriend, evidently." Morgan quipped. Just then, Danny _finally _came out from his room, as if on cue. "What took you so long, Messer?" Flack asked, but Danny didn't respond and shuffled into the kitchen grabbing the sandwich and mug that Morgan had laid out for him on the table. She gave her brother a quick once-over and gasped. "Danny, I think this jacket was the one you wore to the fish market a few weeks ago," Morgan said. She just wanted to stall him for a while more, so she made that up banking on the fact that he hated the smell of fish and kept complaining that the jacket he wore then still reeked and stinked up his whole room. Of course, that wasn't true.

"What! You sure?" He began to take it off.

"You made me wash it _three _times, Danny. Of course I remember. But if you're gonna go change, aren't you going to be late?"

Danny shuffled back to his bedroom muttering some curses that Morgan couldn't quite catch but she managed to hear the words, "Hawkes can wait." Moments later, Danny came out of the room and rushed for the door with Flack following close behind. "I'll call you," he mouthed as he nearly brought the mug out of the apartment. Flack had scurried back in to hand the mug back to Morgan when Danny called out to him from the corridor to hurry up.

"Coming," Flack said.

**XXX**

Morgan had just gotten off her lunch break, without Flack for company as he was busy working on his case, when her cell phone rang. It was Danny, who wanted to know where she was. "I was on a lunch break. What's up?" Her brother replied by saying that he had evidence from his case that he needed her to work on, that is, in case it "slipped her mind". The local Channel Eight weather girl was found dead in Strawberry Fields, Central Park and a search of her workplace turned up a videotape which had been ripped out of the cassette. "I didn't forget," Morgan answered as she reached the door of the lab and flipped her cell phone shut, breaking the connection.

Danny and Dr. Hawkes heard the sound and turned around. "You hung up on me? Anyway, about time. We've been waiting more than five minutes, Morgan." Danny said. "What, you can't wait five minutes?" Morgan replied sarcastically and Hawkes tried to suppress a grin that formed on his face. Danny flashed a small glare at Hawkes and turned to Morgan.

"_Now_,can you work on it?"

"Didn't I tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

The evidence bag containing the damaged videotape had reached Morgan a little over an hour earlier, and upon inspection she knew that this was something that called for someone with more experience. Of course, she'd read about the procedure of how to restore damaged videotapes like this, but Morgan had never actually done it before so she made a call to the A/V tech working the night shift, Adam Ross. Not surprisingly, she had woken him up but he agreed to come down to the crime lab ASAP. The condition of helping out was that Morgan help to "lighten his workload" for he had a whole load of surveillance tapes to go through, for the investigation of a series of store robberies in Queens.

"I left you a message, didn't you get it?" Danny instantly shook his head. Morgan sighed and grabbed his cell phone from his hands. She flipped it open and immediately saw the "message received" icon blinking. She showed it to Danny who mumbled inaudibly and began to ask when Adam Ross would get here.

"Well, he said ASAP."

"How soon is that, then?"

"How should I know?" Morgan replied, and Danny told her to give Adam a call. "Uh-uh. No way, I had to wake him up from his sleep and I feel bad enough for that. Why can't _you _make the call?"

Hawkes, amused by the siblings' bickering, held up a hand and said that he'd make the call. Just then, Adam Ross appeared at the doorway. "Ah, Adam you're here. The siblings are about to start a fight because of you."

"Can we just get down to work please?" Danny cut in and Adam went right to work, with Morgan observing the procedure. "I'll only do this for you once, you're on your own next time," Adam said. After putting the videotape through a steaming process which smoothes out the wrinkles in the tape, Adam loads the tape and hits "play" while Danny, Hawkes and Morgan steps back to view the slightly-distorted image on the television screen. A droning voice and a couple of walruses in between a mating session revealed that it was just a walrus documentary. "Walruses." Hawkes said.

Morgan chuckled and said, "Looks like it was a waste of…"

She never got to finish her sentence, for the image switched to something entirely different. "Time," Morgan finished as the tell-tale sounds of a woman moaning in pleasure boomed from the speakers. "Oh, this is just great," she mumbled under her breath as Adam, Danny and Hawkes' attention were tuned in to the action happening on screen. Standing just beside Danny, she watched as the three men tilted their heads to the side when the man and woman on screen switched, um, positions. Annoyed, she smacked Danny's head just as Lindsay walked past the A/V Lab and did a double-take. Not believing her eyes, Lindsay enters and sees the three men still tilting their heads to the side, watching the video.

"Footage from your 30th birthday party, Messer?" Lindsay commented, to which Danny replied, "Walrus documentary."

"Yeah, he'd like that very much," Morgan scoffed.

Later, Lindsay and Morgan were reviewing the flood of 911 calls that had been made at the time the shotgun went off, killing the victim in the Upper East Side apartment. "What am I supposed to be listening out to?" Morgan asked and Lindsay replied that it could be anything; maybe someone saw the shooter and gave a description. While Morgan was listening to the tapes, Lindsay noted that the timestamps of most of the calls came at 1.23 am whereas one call came in at 1.21 am. The call came through, but the person on the line hung up before anything was said. Mac entered at that moment, and Lindsay reported this to him. "You finished working on the videotape on Danny's case?" Mac asked Morgan, who replied that it didn't need much working on. "Danny was all over it when the um, home video popped up," She quipped and Lindsay flashed a smile of recognition. The exchange of amused smiles between Lindsay and Morgan puzzled Mac, but he said nothing about it and sent Stella to trace the 911 call before leaving the A/V Lab. With Mac gone, the two girls burst into laughter as they remembered the sight of the three men tilting their heads to the side, trying to maximize their view of the tape.

**XXX**

Morgan was in the break room grabbing a drink and taking a couple of minutes to talk to Flack on her cell phone, who said that he'd be coming by later to take her out to dinner. "Wrapped up your case?" Morgan asked. Flack replied that there were still some leads to run down, but nothing that couldn't wait so dinner was still on. Moments later, someone in the background called out to him and Flack told Morgan what time he'd be coming by and got back to work. "See you later," she said.

"See who later?" A voice came from the doorway.

Morgan nearly jumped in shock and saw that it was Adam Ross, popping his head into the break room. She didn't reply, which led him to quip, "Right, none of my business. By the way, have you seen your brother?" Morgan told him no, and her eyes zeroed in on a DVD that he was holding in his hands.

"Is that what I think it this?"

"Yeah, it's a DVD."

"I know that, Adam. I meant the cover."

"Oh, that." Adam was down at the bodega when he saw the home porno video on sale and gotten a copy of it. "What, the free airing wasn't enough?" Adam waved her off and stressed that the purchase was for the purpose of the investigation. "Do you think I'd get reimbursed for this?" Adam said, waving the DVD in her face.

"Gee, I don't know. Why don't you ask Mac?"

"Err, I'll go look for Danny and the Doc."


	20. Danny, Trapped

**_Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but I'm having a lot of free time on my hands from now till late January so I might update more in the next month. )_**

**Note:_ I guess my fanfic is considered at least semi-AU , plus I've got the rest of my story pretty much mapped out so the sudden revelation that Danny has a brother Louie on the show clashes with my story. As such, Louie the brother will not be a part of this story. Don't worry though, there's more twists ahead in my story, wait for it! Hehe. Oh, and !MERRY CHRISTMAS! to everyone reading this._**

**Ep. References/Spoilers: _#2.11 - "Trapped"._**

* * *

**-Twenty-**

The day started out nicely for Morgan, and it was about to get better – after nearly half a dozen broken dates because Flack had work to do, they had finally decided on lunch this afternoon. "I'm so sorry, I promise I'll make it up to you someday," Flack repeatedly said after each time he called to say he couldn't make it for their date. Even though they had little personal time together for the past couple of weeks, Morgan didn't mind it all that much because she understood that Flack's job pretty much puts him on call 24/7 – she'd had more than experience in that department, having Danny as a brother.

Speaking of her brother, Danny had been quiet throughout the whole car ride to the Crime Lab. He'd lost an argument to Morgan the night before and her prize was the chance to drive the two of them to work that morning. She wished she was the passenger today though, for Danny's cell phone had gone off twice in 15 minutes. "You gonna get that?" Morgan asked, and her brother remained silent. She stole a glance at him and saw that Danny was slouched in the passenger seat, half-asleep. "Good thing I'm doing the driving today," she muttered. His cell phone rang again and Morgan stopped the car at a curb to wake Danny up, thinking that it might be an urgent call. Seeing that his cell phone was almost dropping out of Danny's jacket pocket, Morgan carefully slipped it out and flipped open the phone to answer. "Morgan? Isn't this Danny's phone?" came Stella's voice, who had called to enquire Danny's whereabouts for she had just been assigned a new case. Morgan told her that they weren't far from the lab and Stella said that she would be waiting for Danny. Morgan shut the phone – a little too loudly – and Danny was awakened by the sound. Seeing his cell phone in his sister's hands, he swiftly took it from her and eyed her suspiciously. "What were you doing with my phone?"

"Relax, Danny. Did you think I was snooping?"

"Eh, the thought had crossed my mind."

"That sounds like something that _you_ would do, not me. After all, you're a professional snooper."

Morgan relayed what Stella had told her, and after a little grumbling from Danny, they were back on the road.

**XXX**

About an hour before the time they were supposed to meet, Morgan received a call from Flack.

"Don't tell me, you have a hot case to work on."

Even without seeing his face, Morgan could feel his guilt over canceling yet another date between them.

"I am _so _sorry. I'll get you an extra big present this Christmas to make up for it, how's that?"

"Hey, don't worry about it. I knew what I was getting myself into when I started dating you," Morgan replied. It was true. Most people would think twice about jumping into a relationship with someone like Flack, a person whose job practically dominates his life, leaving almost no room for personal time. Morgan however, jumped right into a relationship with him. She had never regretted that decision for a single moment, for she knew first-hand what the job was like. Flack on the other hand was very thankful that Morgan was so understanding about his job, and the canceled dates – his very flexible working hours was the cause of the failure of his last couple of short-lived relationships. This time, he told himself, he would make this relationship work or die trying.

"Still, I feel guilty for canceling all the time."

Before Morgan could reply, Flack was heard barking out orders to someone. "Stay out there."

He was about to return to the conversation when a situation seemed to arise at the crime scene. "Hang on," Flack said to Morgan. Moments later Morgan heard, over the phone, Stella yelling Danny's name and asking if he could hear her. Morgan's ear pricked up as an ominous feeling washed over her. _Don't tell me he's gotten into trouble – again. _Morgan thought to herself as she tightened her grip on the phone, anxious to find out just what has happened to her brother.

Stella, Danny and Flack had been called to a sprawling, seven-storey mansion belonging to Hunter Hudson, a 28-year-old billionaire who was in the computer industry. Known for being a recluse, Hudson was found dead with his throat slashed in his bedroom, which doubled as a panic room. "Is it just me, or does this bedroom kinda give me the creeps?" Danny said after giving the bedroom the once-over and found that there was not a single window in the room. Hudson was a very troubled man who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and OCD, having gone through some emotional trauma as a child after losing both his younger brother and parents. As Danny walked into the attached bathroom, he presses a red button on the wall, expecting the lights to come on. Slowly, the doors begin to close. "That's not good," Danny muttered as the room began to darken. "What the hell?" He realized that he would soon be trapped inside the room and scrambled for the exit, but it was too late. The doors had been locked shut and now Danny was trapped in the panic room, along with the dead body of Hunter Hudson.

"Flack, are you there? What's going on?" Morgan said into the phone.

"Sorry. There's been a, ah…situation."

"Yeah, I heard Stella yelling," Morgan replied in a tone that said, "don't try to lie to me".

"Listen, I'll call you back real soon, okay? Don't worry, Danny's not hurt, he's fine." Flack promptly hung up, as he had to figure out how to free Danny from the panic room in the fastest time possible. Unfortunately, the only person with the security code to open up the room was Hunter Hudson himself and it would take the locksmith whose company built the panic room at least 13 hours to drill his way through the door.

"Yeah, right. He's fine and I'm _not _going crazy here," Morgan muttered to herself. For the next ten minutes, she stared at her cell phone, as if it would ring on her command. "Come on, ring! What's taking you so long, Flack?" To Morgan, the ten minutes felt more like ten hours. The cell phone rang a couple of minutes later and Morgan flipped it open with a thrust. Flack updated her on the situation and how long it would take to free Danny.

"You've got to be kidding me. 13 hours! With a dead body, no less!"

"I know, I know. But you need to stay calm, he's not in any immediate danger, the locksmith is working as fast as he can."

"Well, tell him to work faster. That's my brother we're talking about! Did Danny start whining yet?"

"Whining?" Flack asked quizzically.

"Yeah, you know… 'When can I get out of this damn thing', 'can't you work any faster', stuff like that."

"No, not exactly."

"Just you wait, I'm sure he's just getting warmed up."

"Oh, he's getting warmed up alright; we just shut down the power on this floor before the whole house becomes a panic room. Man, Fort Knox would pale in comparison to this place."

"You know, you're doing a very bad job of trying to make me feel better."

As they spoke, Stella had started to process the outside of the panic room, looking for more clues. "Keep me updated on the situation, okay?" Morgan said.

"Don't worry, I will. Hey, do you wanna give Danny a call? I think his cell phone's still with him."

"I can already expect his answer: 'don't worry, I'm fine.' This means to say 'stop calling.'"

**XXX**

Morgan was crouched in her chair at the A/V Lab, her head and hands on the table. Mac walked in at that moment and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Morgan, are you okay?" he asked, and her head snapped back abruptly. "Sorry if I startled you," Mac said. He then asked if she knew about Danny, and Morgan replied with a sigh that yes, she already knew about it.

"Do you need to take the rest of the day off?" Mac asked; his face filled with concern over both Danny and Morgan. He knew that it wasn't easy for her to sit and wait while Danny was trapped in the panic room, but Morgan declined the offer. "The locksmith is working as fast as he can, Danny will be out before you know it," Mac said.

"I know, Flack told me while we were on the phone, he –" Morgan stopped in mid-sentence. She glanced over at Mac, who didn't seem at all surprised. "How long has it been?" Mac asked with a small smile on his lips. At first, Morgan tried to act as if she didn't know what he talking about, but realized that it was of no use. Mac had to have found out, or he wouldn't react in this way.

"A few weeks. H-How did you find out?"

Mac didn't answer, and Morgan figured she was probably better off not knowing, for she was already embarrassed enough that her "secret" was exposed by her boss. She only hoped that Danny was not as observant as Mac was. At this point, if Danny didn't know, she was somewhat okay with the others finding out. After all, she could trust Mac not to tell, as for Stella and Lindsay, they probably wouldn't either – if they already knew. Just then, Lindsay walked in. She and Mac were working on a case, together with Hawkes. Though they were busy with their own investigation, they were still keeping an eye on Danny's situation.

"Don't worry, Morgan. I'm keeping a close eye – or rather, ear – on the situation. I'll make sure that you're updated on the locksmith's progress." Mac said before heading off to one of the computer terminals with Lindsay, who flashed a comforting smile at Morgan as she walked past.

Morgan was left alone once again, and she contemplated giving Danny a call to talk to him, try to find out how he's doing – but decided against it. She had told Flack not to say anything to Danny about her knowing about his predicament. Not only would he insist that he was fine, chances are he wouldn't be too happy about Morgan calling him at a moment like this.

Meanwhile, over at the Hudson mansion, Danny and Stella were processing the crime scene from inside and outside the panic room respectively. Danny didn't have his kit with him so he had to improvise. Thankfully, the victim had an assortment of chemical products, among a host of other things stocked in his room. Danny had to make do with what was available to process the evidence found inside the room because it wouldn't take long for the heat and passing of time to render the evidence useless. The hours pass as Danny tried to keep the heat and claustrophobia from getting to him. His cell phone rang once more and he flipped open the phone and shut it, breaking the connection. He knew who was calling, but wanted nothing to do with the person on the other line. Desperate for something to distract him from the heat, Danny looked through Hunter Hudson's drawers for something, maybe a magazine to thumb through in order to kill some time. He wasn't getting very far with the evidence-collection, and Stella was off interviewing Hudson's bodyguard downstairs. Danny opened the bedside drawer and found old newspaper clippings about the kidnapping and murder of Hudson's younger brother years ago, carefully preserved in individual plastic sleeves. He read through each article carefully, all the while trying not to think about his own sister. Danny couldn't imagine the guilt and anguish that Hudson went through, of not being able to save his younger brother the night he was taken away, for Hudson was only five feet away from his brother Joshua. Danny's heart sank even more as he reached the articles about Joshua's murder and the death of Hudson's parents in a plane crash. He was left without his younger brother and parents in the space of a few years – even an adult would be deeply affected by this emotional trauma, not to mention a child of about ten years old.

Again, Danny couldn't help but let his thoughts stray. His mind drifted to memories of years ago, some time after his mother's death. Morgan, then five years old, would enter his room after being roused from her sleep by a bad dream. Sometimes, her first instinct was to go into their parents' room and seek comfort from their mother – when she saw the empty room and bed, she immediately ran over to Danny's room and buried her head in his chest, crying because "both Mom and Dad are gone."

**XXX**

After hours of trying to some work done, Morgan glanced up from the computer and looked out at the New York skyline. Night had fallen, and Danny still hadn't been freed from the panic room. "Jerry's working as fast as he can," Flack said during one of his regular updates via phone. Jerry was the locksmith, and ironically, the key to the case. The CSIs just didn't know it yet. Tired of being cooped up in the A/V Lab for the past few hours, Morgan grabbed her cell phone off the table and put it into the pocket of her lab coat as she headed for the break room. She walked over to the front desk after buying a Coke from the vending machine, figuring that she could try and distract herself by engaging in some chit-chat with Amy, the receptionist. Just as she was approaching the front desk, Morgan spotted a young, handsome man in his late twenties with a charming smile talking to Amy. He handed her a file, and Morgan began to wonder what his job was – he didn't look like a cop, nor was he a CSI as far she knew. She reached the front desk and the man immediately took notice of Morgan. He introduced himself as Marty Pino, medical examiner. He was dropping off an autopsy report before he got off work, he said with a warm smile. Had Morgan been single, she would've been charmed by him, like Amy was. Dr. Pino was aware of this too and was openly flirting with Morgan, who told him flat out, "I already have a boyfriend."

"That's okay; we can still be friends, right?" He said with a shrug.

She was about to answer when Flack emerged from the elevator a few feet away and walked over to her. Judging by the look in her eyes, Dr. Pino quickly concluded that, ah yes, this was probably the boyfriend. He excused himself, but not before flashing another charming smile at her and stepped into the elevator to go down. "Who's that guy?" Flack asked; a little bewildered at Dr. Pino's smile. "Medical examiner," Morgan said simply. Flack then informed her that Danny should be able to get out in a couple of hours and that they had a suspect in custody. Frankly, Morgan didn't care even if they had already made an arrest or got a confession, she just wanted Danny freed. Flack put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close for a quick moment – thankfully, there was no one around and Amy had walked away for a moment. "He'll be out before you know it. Now, I gotta go find Stella," he said.

"She's in the Trace Lab," Morgan said, pointing in the direction of the said lab. "How's Danny doing?" she asked while walking Flack to where Stella was.

"He's gettin' hungry, but he'll survive. We should be able to get him out soon." Flack answered. He had just come from interrogating Linda Cortez, Hunter Hudson's housekeeper. Stella had found bloodstains on her uniform, which meant that she was in the room when Hudson died. After joining Stella in the Trace Lab, she informs Flack that Linda's uniform showed a lack of arterial spray which meant it was highly likely that Hudson slashed his own throat when he was under hypnosis by Linda – who had in turn learnt the skill from her boss' doctor. If Hudson did not kill himself, then Linda had a partner. After Danny calls in to inform Stella that he had discovered a secondary blood stain which did not seem to belong to Hunter Hudson, Stella went into the interrogation room to check Linda's body for any cuts and came up empty. Linda definitely had a partner. Her phone rings just then, and Stella recognized the ringtone immediately – the locksmith Jerry mentioned that he and his girlfriend shared the same ringtone. Danny had inadvertently revealed the fact that they had Linda – who was actually Jerry's girlfriend - in custody and they were close to the truth. They've found their accomplice, and he was right in front of them the whole time. His cover blown, Jerry punched in the security code – he had it the whole time – and entered the room with his gun, hoping to take down Danny before Stella and Flack returned.

"I want you to call your partner, tell her to let Linda go," Jerry said while tossing his cell phone over to Danny. On the other hand, Danny having figured things out after seeing an injury on his arm, refused to make the call and even taunting Jerry into confessing that he had killed Hunter Hudson. "Call your partner, right now!" Just as Jerry said that, Stella and Flack appeared behind him, guns drawn.

"Partner's right here!"

Having been forced into a corner, Jerry takes Danny hostage but he is later subdued and taken in custody. Moments later, Mac goes to Morgan with the news that Danny has been freed from the panic room and filled her in about the situation that ensued earlier. Feeling freaked out but relieved at the same time, she could finally relax after spending most of the day on tenterhooks. She also received a text message from Flack soon after, telling her that they were on their way back to the Crime Lab with Danny, who hadn't been hurt in any way even after having been taken hostage.

"Hey, sleepyhead," a voice aroused Morgan from her sleep. She had dozed off at the table in the A/V Lab, and had used her arms as a makeshift pillow. She looked up groggily and saw that it was Danny, who looked weary but none the worse for wear. Morgan jumped up from her chair and wrapped her brother in a tight hug while berating him lightly. "I was so worried about you!" she said, and slapped his arm lightly after she pulled away from him. "Yeah, it could've been worse. I could've ended up in the hospital or the morgue if Flack and Stella hadn't appeared in time." Danny said jokingly, and Morgan flashed him a death glare. "It's not funny, don't say things like that."

Just then, Flack appeared in the doorway and Danny turned to thank him. "Hey buddy, thanks for saving me." Flack stole a glance at Morgan who was also mouthing a word of thanks to him when Danny suddenly turned to face her. Morgan stopped smiling and pursed her lips into a tight line while looking away. He turned to Flack, who had done the same thing.

"Okay, the both of you: don't even think of leaving this room until you tell what's going with you two," Danny demanded. "Tell you about what?" Morgan asked innocently, while hoping to herself that this was not about to explode into a big mess.

"Stop playing games – how long have the both of you been going out, behind my back?"


	21. Death Threats are Made

_**sorry for the loooooong delay, people! had lots of stuff to deal with, but I'm back now! hopefully there's still readers interested in this...hehe. and please keep the reviews coming! those are what motivates me to write...and now, the chapter you've been waiting for!**_

* * *

**-Twentyone-**

"Stop playing games – how long have the both of you been going out, behind my back?"

Despite Danny's serious tone, Morgan couldn't help but chuckle at his use of words.

"It's not like I'm your girlfriend and I've been unfaithful to you… heh heh."

Danny turned to stare at his sister with a look that showed he was close to his breaking point while Flack just looked at her in disbelief. "Not funny. Okay." Morgan said.

"Can we get back to the topic please?" Danny said in an exasperated tone. He was already giving off an intimidating air about himself as he stood with his arms crossed and a stern expression on his face. Morgan stole a glance at Flack, who was having trouble deciding which one of them should speak first. Meanwhile, Morgan was wondering if Danny knew everything and was trying to get them to admit to it, or he was trying to confirm his suspicions by pretending he knew everything. If it was the latter, should Morgan come clean or should she try to lie her way out of this?

While Morgan was deciding on her options, Danny had turned his attention to Flack, who had suddenly taken a keen interest in the floor beneath his feet.

"It was my idea," Morgan spoke suddenly. "What idea?" Danny asked, turning to his sister.

"Not to tell you about…us."

"And why is that, may I ask?" He replied with a certain calmness that felt creepy to Morgan. _Oh dear, the calm before the storm,_ Morgan thought.

"Because I knew you'd freak out if you found out."

Danny took a few steps closer to Morgan who said, "You don't intimidate me, Danny. I've seen that look thousands of times."

"Oh, really?"

"Okay, maybe I was exaggerating a little… but I _have_ seen that look loads of times."

Danny then inhaled deeply and exhaled moments later. "How long?"

"How long…what?" Morgan asked. She looked over to Flack, who was giving her a look, begging her to shut up before Danny really exploded.

"Ever since we wrapped the Henry Darius case," Flack spoke, even before Morgan could open her mouth to answer. Danny looked over to her, and she nodded in agreement with Flack's answer.

Danny stood still with his head lowered, and not even Morgan could tell just what he was thinking. Moments went past and still he hadn't said anything. Morgan was starting to lose patience, and Flack was just about ready to flinch at any time should Danny throw a punch at him.

"Will you please say something?" Morgan said. "Why are you making this such a big deal, anyway? I'm not sixteen years old anymore; I don't need your approval over who I date!" She continued in an agitated tone. Realizing that she'd probably crossed a line with Danny, Morgan tried to even out the tension she'd caused but Danny simply shook his head and walked out of the room.

"What was that about?" A confused Flack asked.

"I don't know, I wasn't expecting such a reaction from him," Morgan said.

"He seemed pretty calm."

"As in, the calm before the storm."

"Okay, should I start to worry about my well-being?" Flack said. With an amused smile, Morgan assured him that she would talk to Danny. "Until I go blue in the face," Morgan added. A call came in for Flack on his cell phone just then and he headed for his car, so that he could speak in private with the person on the line. "Let me know how it goes," he said as he exited the A/V Lab.

**XoXoX**

Morgan strolled around the crime lab looking for Danny, whom she'd been unable to locate at the moment. _How the hell did he know? Okay, Flack and I probably gave ourselves away at one time or another, but someone must've told him. But who? _Morgan knew for sure that Mac wouldn't say anything, Stella too. She didn't think Lindsay knew, and as for Dr. Hawkes… she couldn't be sure. That was a question she needed to ask her brother – just as soon as she found him. Morgan had practically made a round in the crime lab once, and headed for the locker room. True enough, Danny was sitting on a bench and facing his own locker.

"Danny, we need to talk. About Flack and me."

"What's there to talk about? You've obviously made it clear that it's none of my business."

"Okay, I deserve that. I shouldn't have used that tone on you earlier, but you _were_ overreacting a little."

"Is that what passes for an apology these days, huh?"

"Danny, would you stop it with the sarcasm? WE. NEED. TO. TALK."

Danny let out a sigh and motioned for Morgan to sit next to him on the bench. "So talk," he said.

"Like I said, I'm not sixteen anymore, I have the right to make my own choices whether you like it or not."

Before Morgan had found him in the locker room, Danny had been thinking about what she had said earlier and flashbacked to the time when his little sister first began to date boys. He knew she had never quite gotten over the fact that he was partly responsible for the short relationship she had had with her first boyfriend, because Morgan had made the mistake of introducing him to Danny just a month after they'd started dating each other; because of Danny's overprotective attitude.

"So, what you're saying is you're sticking to your guns about this, and there's no way you're gonna let me interfere."

"Er, sort of."

There was a sudden silence between them. Morgan really wanted to hear the words, "I'm happy for you" from her brother's mouth, but it looked like getting him to say that would be a big challenge. Just then, Flack walked in and immediately felt the tension between the siblings. Before either of them could say anything, Flack spoke.

"If my being with Morgan would cause any unhappiness between you two, then I'm sorry. But Danny, she's right. She's no longer sixteen and you don't have to watch over her like a hawk. She's an adult now and she needs her freedom. I know this is hard for you to accept but the both of you will have to lead your own lives sooner or later, you can't keep her with you forever," he said. When he finished, he found both Messer siblings staring at him as if they'd never seen him before in their lives. "What?" he asked with an annoyed look.

Morgan then stood up abruptly and lunged toward him, enveloping him in a hug. "Thank you! You took the words right out of my mouth," she said as she turned to Danny to address him. "Danny, what Flack said is right. I've been wanting to tell you this long ago, but I was afraid that you'd be unhappy…"

Danny let out another sigh as Morgan and Flack waited for him to speak. Danny stood up from the bench and walked over to Flack. He leaned in towards Flack and grabbed his collar lightly. "You hurt my sister in any way and I swear I'll kill you." Flack didn't know what to say in reply to this, as he couldn't tell if Danny was for real, or if he was joking. Before he could think of a reply, Danny added, "Try not to get yourself killed outside, too. Or I'll never let your soul rest in peace."

Morgan gave her brother a morbid look. "Will you stop it with all the death threats?" she said.

"Does this mean that you've given us your approval?" Flack asked. Without a word, Danny went to his locker to gather his things. As he turned to walk out of the locker room, he said, "I made myself clear. If he dares to hurt you, I'll kill him. If he goes and gets himself killed, I'll make sure he regrets dying." With that, he walked out of the locker room, leaving the lovebirds bewildered and confused.

"I guess that's a yes?" Morgan said as Flack let out a sigh in relief. "I thought he was going to punch me in the face when he grabbed my collar," he said.

"Damn!" Morgan exclaimed. "I forgot to ask him who blew the whistle on us!"

* * *


	22. What Happens Next

**_Hey people! I'm back with a chapter, albeit a little short. But, no worries, I should be able to post a new chapter within the next week or so. I feel a wave of inspiration coming up...hehe. The objective of this chapter was to kinda...resolve things between the siblings, made sure it ended on a good note, because I want Danny to be happy for his sister and not be mad at her. -grin-_**

**_Hope you guys liked this chapter, and please be generous with the replies! Thank you for reading..._**

* * *

** TwentyTwo**

"You sure you don't want me to go up there with you?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides, I think Danny's made enough death threats at you to last quite a while…"

Flack had driven Morgan home, a couple of hours after the 'confrontation' with Danny at the crime lab. She'd tried calling Danny on his cell phone, but her calls went unanswered. There were only a few places where Danny would most likely go, and Morgan bet on him being home. There had been a long silence between Flack and Morgan during the car ride as they were both pondering on what had just happened. Instead of over-reacting, Danny had sort of…under-reacted when he confronted them earlier, which was the exact opposite of what they were expecting. Flack was even bracing himself for Danny's fist to make contact with his face.

"Maybe he's just waiting for me to get home before yelling at me," Morgan had said in the car.

Pulling up outside her apartment building, Flack asked once more if it was really okay that she went back up alone and she once again reassured him that it was really fine. "You've had a long day too, you need to go home and rest," she said, pushing him back into the driver's seat. "Drive safely," she reminded him as he drove off. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the building and into the lift which would take her to her floor.

Morgan unlocked the front door and saw that the shoes that Danny had worn to work that day were already strewn on the floor of their home. She stuck her head into the kitchen to confirm his presence, but he was not there. Morgan next headed straight to his room and opened the door without so much as a knock. Not surprisingly, there Danny was, lying face up on the bed still dressed in the clothes he'd worn to work, his arms crossed behind his head. "You never learn. Shouldn't you at least give a little knock on the door before coming in?" Danny said, without even an expression or moving a single inch.

"Didn't need to. I know exactly what you'd be doing in here."

"Which is?" Danny replied, head still facing the ceiling.

"This!" Morgan said, as she stood next to the bed and gestured with her arms about his current position.

"How do you know?"

"You've had a bad day; this is what you usually do on a bad day."

Danny turned to look at Morgan with a raised eyebrow. "I do?" Morgan nodded in reply, after which she spoke.

"Danny, I'm sorry. I know you should've been the first person I told about me and Flack…"

"But you were afraid that I was gonna kick his ass once I found out?"

"Judging from past experiences, yeah, sort of."

Danny finally sat up after hearing her reply. "Meaning?"

"You probably don't remember, but you played interrogator with my first boyfriend," Morgan said. "You were only sixteen." Danny answered.

"What about my second boyfriend? Don't give me that 'you were eighteen' crap. You used your job as a CSI to run a check on him… IN THE CRIMINAL DATABASE! I still can't believe you did that! Doesn't that count as unethical behavior?"

"Hey, it was justifiable, okay? I thought that guy looked kinda shady so I ran a check to be sure."

Now that the cannons had been filled with gunpowder and pointed in the right direction, Morgan wasn't gonna stop now, for it would take a lot for the siblings to stop arguing once they'd started.

"Well, it wasn't the first time that your 'gut instinct' failed you."

"Yeah? Well, my gut instinct came to the rescue when it came to you and Flack."

Danny had seen Flack and Morgan walking up to the apartment building one night. It wasn't as if he was looking out the window to keep a lookout for his sister, he just happened to see them. Even though they didn't seem to behaving intimately nor were they holding hands, Danny could tell that something was up. That was a couple of weeks ago, and he'd started to take extra notice of them whenever they were in the same room together. Danny had to admit, Morgan was careful around him, but he wouldn't be her brother if he couldn't even notice the change in her.

"…and you left your cell phone in the kitchen last week while you were in the bathroom. Flack sent you a text message –"

"Please don't tell me you read my messages." Danny's reply was a look that said "So what if I did?"

"You were snooping!"

"I thought you said it was my job to snoop around, that I'm a professional snooper."

"But that does _ not_ give _you _the right to READ MY MESSAGES!"

"Okay, enough. Did you come in here to pick a fight with me?" Danny asked. It was then that Morgan remembered what she first came in for.

"Oh, right."

"So what did you come in here for?"

After a moment's hesitation, Morgan said, "I wanted to ask if you were happy for me."

Danny's expression softened and he got off the bed and gave his sister a hug.

"I'm happy for you, I really am," he said, and they broke away from each other. "But I swear I'll kill him if he dares to hurt you in any way."

"Y-eah. He knows. You told him, what, no less than TWO times?"

"I'm just sayin'. Nobody hurts my little sister and gets away with it."

"Yeah, yeah. He's got the hint already. Now, will you get changed outta those clothes? You stink."


	23. It's Offical: Everybody Knows

**See? Told ya I'd be back within the week, hehe.  
**

**Disclaimer: ** CSI: NY and its characters belong to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer, I only own (sadly) the character of Morgan.

**Ep. references/spoilers: #2.15 - "Fare Game".  
**

_ Note to readers: Assume that the events of "Fare Game" happened soon after the previous chapter, simply because the episode was a little more interesting than the 3 eps before it. Just thought that it would be more fun to write about. –grin-_

* * *

** -TwentyThree-**

"Hey, Morgan! Come over here." It was Stella, beckoning Morgan over to the break room where she was having her lunch. "What's up?" Morgan said.

"I've been wanting to talk to you, but my caseload was as high as the Empire State Building lately, I hardly had time for a break," Stella replied. Morgan and Flack had felt that it was time to let people know that they were dating each other, and had announced it to Mac and the others a while ago.

"Talk to me about what?"

"About Danny. How's he dealing with you dating Flack?" said Stella, with a glint in her eye and a slight smirk.

"He's taking it surprisingly well, not what I first expected but it's better than the alternative," Morgan said, as she described his behavior after he confronted her and Flack about his knowledge of their relationship. "I was expecting him to throw a punch at Flack, but he didn't. He even gave me a hug and admitted that he was happy for me, which was when I was alone with him, of course."

"What _did _he do then?"

Morgan told her about the death threats, and Stella couldn't help but laugh. "That is so Danny."

"But still, I sure wasn't expecting him to be so… cool about the whole thing. I would've bet a month's pay that he'd throw a punch at Flack," Stella added.

"Yeah, me too…"

"You know what? Maybe he's starting to realize that you're no longer a little girl anymore."

"I hope so." Morgan said with a smile.

** XXX**

_ Flack had asked that Mac, Stella, Lindsay and Hawkes gather in the break room, but without saying why. "Any idea what Flack wants to tell us?" Lindsay said, but Mac and Stella could only shrug their shoulders. Just then, Flack walked in with Morgan behind him. _

_   
"Flack? You mind telling us what you're up to?" Mac started to ask, but flashed a knowing smile as he saw Morgan step into the room. Flack then cleared his throat and beckoned for Morgan to stand next to him. _

_ "Ahem. I just wanted to let you guys know that Morgan and I are…together," he said as he held Morgan's hand in his and held it up for them to see. All eight pairs of eyes then turned to Morgan, who was suddenly feeling very embarrassed. "Is this true?" asked Stella, her smile getting bigger by the second. Morgan nodded, and Stella pumped her fists in the air, saying, "I knew it! I'd thought there was something funny going on between you two."_

_ "How'd you know?" Morgan and Flack said at the same time. "A woman's intuition," said Stella with a wink, as she flashed Flack a thumbs-up sign before leaving the break room to go back to work. Lindsay and Hawkes came up to say a word of congrats and Hawkes left to do his own thing while Lindsay lingered behind, asking if Danny knew about it. "Yeah, he knows," Morgan replied. _

_ Lastly, Mac looked at the both of them with a smile, saying, "Can't say I was surprised, to be honest." When Flack asked if he'd known for a while now, Mac nodded in reply. _

_ "But how did you know?"_

_ "I just knew," he said, and left the break room shortly after when he received a phone call._

** XXX**

"I wonder how Mac could so easily tell that Flack and I are going out," Morgan asked casually, as she and Stella remembered the day her relationship with Flack was announced.

Stella flashed a wistful smile, replying, "Maybe he saw the look of happiness on your faces and was reminded of the same look he had when he was with Claire." Morgan knew who Claire was, for Danny had spoken about her after 9/11, which was the day she died. She remembered Danny telling her how it was the first time he'd seen Mac look so defeated, like a part of him had died together with his wife.

Bringing her mind back to the present, Morgan parted with Stella and made her way back to the A/V lab. Before she could sit down, she was presented with surveillance tapes from _two_ different cases. Danny and Lindsay had walked in, one after the other and dropped the tapes off. The latter, noticing the less than warm look the siblings had given each other, stayed behind after Danny left the room and grabbed a chair next to Morgan. "Brrr! It was getting cold in here," Lindsay quipped. Morgan flashed her a look and instantly knew what she was trying to say.

"Before you ask what happened – Danny ranted at me last night for staying out too late with Flack. Can you believe him? It was just a late-night movie and he bitched about it the whole night." Morgan grumbled. "He even threatened to give Flack an ass-kicking," she continued.

"Ahh, the Goombah Routine." Lindsay replied, and Morgan looked at her with a puzzled expression on her face. "Refers to the ass-kicking behavior that Danny seems to exhibit from time to time." Lindsay added with a chuckle. "That one of your Montana-speak stuff?" Morgan asked.

"Somethin' like that," Lindsay replied as Morgan began to prepare the tapes for viewing. She was working with Mac and Stella on a case where an Assistant District Attorney was shot dead before the grave of one Samuel Cooper, they had just found out that the victim seemed to be part of a game – "water gun wars" – where you had to track down your targets and "kill" them with a water gun or water balloon. The winner stood to win $100,000. It turned out that Morgan had heard of both the game _and _Samuel Cooper.

"I have a friend who took part in the game before," she said. "And the late Mr. Cooper? How'd you know about him?" Lindsay asked.

"Well, I heard from someone that the guy had a LCD-screen installed into his tombstone which activated each time someone visited him, and old Mr. Cooper would appear on screen, talking about life and things like that. So out of curiosity, I went to take a look for myself with a friend, I'd have to say I was kinda inspired by what he said about living life," Morgan said.

"You're morbid."

"Me, morbid? What about you guys?" Morgan said with a laugh. Lindsay received a page, summoning her to the Trace lab and Morgan got down to business. Her job was to identify any suspicious persons from the surveillance tapes from the building in which the dead ADA had rented an office, and for Danny's case, in the building in which his victim lived in. She wasn't sure about what Danny's case was about, but she did know one thing – something had gone and laid eggs in the victim's ear – this piece of information was courtesy of Dr. Hawkes. "Now he's the morbid one," she muttered to herself, recalling the look of excitement on his face when he'd mentioned it to her in the break room just a while ago.

"I wonder what the eggs will hatch into," he had said. "I'd rather _not_ find out, thank you," Morgan replied. A few hours later, Danny returned after tracking down a lead based on the findings on the victim's stomach contents. Apparently, the victim had been a guest at an "exotic cuisine" food fest, held at the posh Grandview Regent Hotel, the night she died.

"Water bugs, duck fetus, whale bacon. And the list goes on."

"Danny, stop it before I lose my appetite for dinner."

"Wait, there's more. I sampled a dish that the chef was gonna serve today…"

"Okay, I _don't _wanna know what dish that is."

"…Peruvian centipede. 'Tastes just like chicken', my ass."

"You here to talk bugs, or are you here about the case?" Morgan was still a little miffed about the night before.

Unfortunately, she failed to gather any viable leads from the surveillance tapes, unsuccessfully tried to detect any suspicious activity in the people who went back and forth in the building. Hawkes entered the room just then, and asked Danny to go with him to watch the eggs hatch. "Wanna come along, Morgan?" The doc asked and Morgan politely declined.

"You're such a girl," Danny teased. "Yeah, whatever. Go watch your eggs hatch."

** XXX**

By nightfall, the suspect in both cases had been found. Flack had dropped by the crime lab to hand off some case files and met with Morgan in the break room. "I heard you had quite an exciting day," she said. Flack had gotten into a frenzied chase earlier, with a woman who had thought that he was one of the players in the "water gun wars" and ran away from him. She narrowly escaped getting shot by a uniformed officer when she brandished a water gun, and Flack, annoyed at having to chase her through a couple of blocks, yelled "Are you kidding me!" when he saw the water gun in her hands.

"Well, at least she didn't get shot for real," Morgan said while getting him a cup of coffee.

Moments later, Mac, Stella, Hawkes and Lindsay gathered in the break room as if waiting for someone. "Danny says he's gonna give us a treat, take-out," Lindsay said when Morgan asked what was going on. As if on cue, Danny walked in carrying an assortment of food and laid it out on the table, which made everyone present grimace in disgust. One by one he introduced the dishes, which included "delicacies" like Mealworm Spaghetti, Stink Bug pate, Cricket Croquettes and what looked like deep-fried spiders. Morgan, who was at the front of the table before the food arrived, now scurried as far as possible to where Flack was standing and grabbed onto his arm for dear life. "The bugs aren't gonna attack you, don't worry!" Flack said with a chuckle as Danny advanced toward them with the deep-fried spiders.

"Get those AWAY from me."

"What? They're already dead and deep-fried!" Danny said, as he broke off a small piece and tried to get Morgan to try it.

"Uh-uh, no freakin' way!" Still, Danny managed to shove it into his sister's mouth, but Morgan promptly spit it out onto the nearest thing – Flack's hands, which were outstretched in front of her and Danny next tried to target Flack.

"Flack, eat a spoonful of the Mealworm Spaghetti and I officially give you permission to date my sister!" Danny said jokingly, and everyone began to egg Flack on. "You sure know how to push my buttons, Messer," said Flack as he picked up a fork, seemingly serious about eating the mealworms. Just as he was about to stick his fork in, Danny stopped him and said, "I was just joking, Donnie," as Flack stared at him, looking as if he was ready to stab Danny with the fork that was still in his hand.

"And for the bravery you displayed, you officially have my permission," Danny added with a pat on Flack's shoulder, as everyone broke out in laughter.

Lindsay was the only one brave enough to take a bite, while everyone else was just content to stay at least five inches away from the table. "It's just protein," she said while biting off a chunk of the deep-fried spider, as Morgan looked away in horror. Flack managed to say "Pass" while Stella still seemed to be trying to take in the fact that worms were crawling around in pasta.

"Told you she'd do it," Mac suddenly said and demanded that Danny pay him. It turned out that Danny had bet Mac 20 dollars that Lindsay wouldn't dare to eat the food, so he lost and had to pay up. Once the money was in Mac's hands, he said, "Okay, pizza in my office." Everyone with the exception of Lindsay and Danny thankfully filed out of the break room, away from the creepy-crawlies and into Mac's office.

Morgan was already a few steps out of the break room, and she turned to look at her brother and Lindsay. What she saw put a smile on her face. "Morgan? You coming for the pizza?" Flack asked as he came and stood next to her. "Still didn't get enough of those bugs?" he asked.

"Of course not!" Morgan said. "Then what is it?"

"I think," she answered, "that Lindsay is interested in my brother."

"Really? Montana interested in Danny Messer?"

Morgan's reaction was a slap on Flack's arm. "Stop her calling her that."

"Sorry, _Lindsay._ Since when did you become so chummy with her, anyways?" Flack said. "I just think it's not nice to keep calling her 'Montana', okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay. How can you tell that's she got a thing for him, a woman's intuition?"

"A little. But it's also because she's been asking me questions about Danny lately," said Morgan. "A little too much, if you know what I mean."

Morgan's remark seemed to strike a chord with Flack, who muttered, "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Of course you do!" Morgan quipped, and Flack was surprised she even heard him. "You did the same thing with Aiden, didn't you? Asking her about me," she added.

"H-How'd you know!" Flack sputtered, as Morgan said with a smirk, "Aiden told me."


	24. The Return Of

**Disclaimer: **I do not own CSI: NY or its characters, just the original character Morgan Messer.

**Ep. references/spoilers: **#2.02 - "Grand Murder at Central Station", #2.18 - "Live or Let Die".

* * *

**24: THE RETURN OF…**

It was another busy day, as always, for the CSIs as they split up in different teams to work on two different cases. – Mac, Danny and Hawkes were assigned to a case where a helicopter used for transporting donor organs for transplants had been hijacked. The pilot was injured but not in any immediate danger, but the intern that was in charge of delivering the donor organ, a liver, was not so lucky. He died of a gunshot wound and was even thrown off the helicopter. Mac and the others now had the task of tracking down both the hijackers and the donor organ before it was rendered unusable for transplant.

Meanwhile, Stella and Lindsay had been called to a spillway tunnel somewhere in New York City where a body of a young woman had been found. There weren't many signs of a struggle at the scene, but it seemed as though the woman had engaged in some kind of sexual activity shortly before she was killed – her clothes were slightly disheveled, and it was later proven that she'd had sex with two men prior to her death. Stella and Lindsay now had the task of tracking down suspects, as the CODIS system tried to find a match in DNA samples of the two men who'd had contact with the victim before she was killed.

So far, Stella and Lindsay had managed to deduce that the victim, Lillian Stanwick, had been in contact with numerous men, something which Morgan had first-hand knowledge of, as Lindsay had asked her to help with the victim's phone records. "Stella's gone to track down some leads and her phone records are a mile long," Lindsay said.

"But this isn't quite my…expertise," Morgan replied, but Lindsay assured her that it would be a cinch. "I would like to get through at least most of the records before Stella gets back."

"Well…I've got nothing on my hands at the moment, so I guess it couldn't hurt to help you out," Morgan said with a smile.

Sometime later, Morgan was amazed at the amount of names in the phone records that belonged to males. "I don't even have half the number of male friends," she griped but Lindsay didn't reply as she was busy poring over the records. "You seem pretty focused on the case," Morgan said. "I mean, you seem more focused than usual." Even though she still didn't know Lindsay all that well, Morgan had seen how dedicated Lindsay was to her job. It's been half a year since Aiden was fired from the lab, but Morgan still couldn't help but occasionally compare Lindsay to Aiden. Nevertheless, she liked Lindsay's positive attitude, and coming from Montana, her views on certain things differed from Morgan, who had spent her whole life in New York City. Plus, she was very interested at the fact that Lindsay seemed to have a thing for her brother, and while she wasn't sure if Danny felt the same way, Morgan was sure that he definitely felt _something_ for this new colleague of his.

"I don't know, there's just something about this girl that I can't shake off…" Lindsay replied.

They got back to work and soon after, they had managed to narrow down a list of names, men that the victim had constant phone contact with during the last six months. Oddly enough, the phone records showed that the victim seemed to be the one doing the calling, none of the men had ever called her. "That's weird…" Lindsay muttered to herself.

**XXX**

"Phone sex? She was giving those men phone sex?"

Stella and Lindsay had interviewed the three most likely suspects from the victim's phone records, and through them found out that none of them even knew what Lillian Stanwick looked like, but she had given all of them phone sex. She had obtained their phone numbers through her job as a hostess at a restaurant, where customers deposited their business cards into a bowl to enter a lucky draw, or something like that. Lillian then fished the numbers of the men she fancied and later called them up anonymously. One of the three suspects however, was the most suspicious, as he had admitted to seeing Lillian the night she was killed.

He couldn't take just listening to her voice anymore; he had to see her in person. So they met up and they had sex right then and there. The thing was, he never got to see her face, she came up from behind and even made him close his eyes or she'd leave. He didn't want her to leave, so he complied with her request.

"I don't get it, Morgan continued. "What is it with men and phone sex?" She said, throwing her arms up in frustration.

"Same here," Lindsay said. "I even asked Danny about it. He, um, gave me quite an insight on the topic of phone sex," she added.

Morgan couldn't believe her ears. She had known Danny all her life and he was never _that _forthcoming with her on the topic of sex. Morgan leaned forward towards Lindsay excitedly and asked about what she had talked about with Danny.

"Well, I asked him if he'd ever experienced it before…"

"And?" Morgan could hardly contain her curiosity.

"He said he'd received an anonymous phone sex call before." Lindsay then went on to say that Danny saw phone sex as an avenue of arousal without any emotional complications. "But it could an avenue for emotional blackmail – for me to do the blackmailing," Morgan replied with a mischievous smile.

Just then, she saw Flack walking past the break room and stuck her head out to greet him. "Hey, what brings you here?" she said, followed by a gasp when he turned around to face her.

"What happened to your face? There's such a big bruise on your cheek!"

Morgan grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the break room, where she scrutinized the bruise on his face once more. "What happened?" she asked, reaching out to touch it, but before she could Flack flinched in pain. Looking around for a moment, he said softly, "I got kicked in the face while chasing someone."

Morgan couldn't help but chuckle.

"I could use some ice right about now," Flack grumbled. Unfortunately, the break room's refrigerator was out of ice so Morgan turned to the next best alternative – an ice-cold can of Coke.

"Sorry, we're out of ice, you gotta settle for this," said Morgan, as she handed the can of Coke to Flack. He put the ice-cold can on his cheek for a few moments before opening it and took a big sip of out it.

**XXX**

By the time Morgan got off work, the case that Flack was handling had been solved, and the donor organ found in time to be delivered to the patient who was supposed to receive the transplant that morning. As for Stella and Lindsay's case, nobody would have expected for the result to be like that…

Their first main suspect turned out to be telling the truth – that he'd had sex with the victim, but wasn't involved in her death. His semen that was found in her body turned out to be more degraded than the second sample that was found as well, so the killer was the one who had sex with her last. A match finally came up in the database – D.J. Pratt – the man Aiden failed to nail on a rape charge months ago.

Morgan was about to leave the crime lab when she ran into Lindsay. "Hey, how'd your case go?"

"Not good."

"Oh, don't worry, you'll catch the guy soon enough."

Lindsay then told her about the DNA match to D.J. Pratt. Morgan didn't need Lindsay to explain any further, for she remembered his name and the few brief details that Aiden had told her about the case almost two years earlier.

"You knew about this guy too?" Lindsay asked, and Morgan nodded. "Did you manage to arrest him?" she asked.

Lindsay shook her head with a sigh. She and Stella had just been to the apartment building where their victim lived – and realized that Pratt had been working there as a painter – his M.O. was to stalk women living in the buildings where he does paint jobs, then wait for an opportunity. Alas, they were too late. Pratt's whereabouts had been unknown after he killed Lillian Stanwick, he could be anywhere by now.

"We're gonna get him," said a voice from behind. "He's escalating to murder, we have to find him before he tries to rape someone else again." It was Mac, who looked grim, yet his eyes burned with determination.

"I will keep my promise to Aiden."


	25. One of New York's Finest

**Everybody excited about "Run Silent, Run Deep"? I can't wait to watch the episode, I've already watched the promo up on at least 4-5 times. LOL. Well, you all know that my fic is slightly AU, but I'm still gonna hafta find a way to incorporate the episode's events (mostly, at least) without changing too much stuff, namely the parts where Louie Messer comes in. SIGH.**

Well, before that, please enjoy this new chapter, where I indulge in a little backstory of my own. -grin-

**Disclaimer**: CSI: NY belongs to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer.  
**Ep. references/spoilers**: None, except for a brief mention of Aiden and DJ Pratt (boy, I hope they catch him soon!). This Danny backstory is my own creation.

**NOTE**: Please refer back to Chaps. 9 and 11…for a little foreshadowing of what's going to come. Hehe.

* * *

**25: One of New York's Finest**

Night had fallen, and Morgan was on her way out of the lab when she saw Stella in the break room, sipping a cup of coffee. "I'm guessing a long night is ahead of you," she said as she approached the snack machine for a chocolate bar. Stella had been working on a new case, but at the same time, trying to track down D.J. Pratt for the past couple of weeks, after it was discovered that he had surfaced again, this time causing the death of the woman he was attempting to rape.

"Does Aiden know about this?" Morgan asked.

She regularly contacted Aiden via e-mail, and the last time they talked was a few weeks ago. Aiden had recently found a job, teaching art at a school in Brooklyn. It was a big change for Aiden to say the least. "I'm still putting my skills to good use," she had said, referring to her flair in drawing portraits and facial reconstruction. "Besides, some of these kids really have the potential, and it would do them good to learn a skill, rather than to be out in the streets where they could get into trouble."

Morgan had wanted to get in touch with Aiden and tell her the news, but she felt that Stella or Danny, even Mac, would be better suited to break the news to her.

"Yeah, I told her a few brief details about the case," Stella answered.

"How did she react?" Morgan was concerned about Aiden.

"She sounded agitated when I spoke to her on the phone, but I told her not to worry. We're doing all that we can to find the bastard and this time, we'll nail him for sure," Stella said, her voice full of determination.

Just then, Morgan remembered something. She had passed Mac's office on her way out and saw him with Danny. It seemed serious, for Mac had a stern expression on his face while Danny looked upset. "Did something happen?" she asked.

Stella then explained that Danny had been working on a case with her and Mac. Everything was going well; they had even tracked down a possible suspect, and were on their way to look the guy up earlier that day. However, the suspect pulled out a gun the moment they identified themselves as cops and tried to escape. A uniformed cop managed to stop him, but got shot in the leg. Luckily, he was in no immediate danger and was in good condition at the hospital.

"So…where does Danny fit into all this?" Morgan asked, not quite getting what Stella was trying to say.

Mac and Danny managed to subdue the suspect and was putting the cuffs on him when the man began to rant that the uniformed cop wouldn't have got shot if he had just stayed out of his way, showing no remorse over what he had just done.

"That was when Danny lost his temper and gave the guy a couple of punches," Stella said. "The guy deserved it, but it was wrong of Danny to do that."

"Is he going to file a complaint against Danny?" Morgan asked.

Stella went on to explain that all the incriminating evidence in the case pointed to their suspect, and with another charge of shooting that uniformed cop, Danny was the least of his troubles. He did, however, agreed to drop the complaint if Danny apologized to him, which had yet to happen.

"I don't think that is gonna happen," Morgan said skeptically.

"Not if Mac can help it," Stella answered.

Morgan knew what she meant. Danny didn't need a complaint like that in his record, not after what had happened last year with the Minhas shooting, which had cost him a place on the promotion grid.

"Why don't you go on home first?" Stella said. "It's gonna take a while for Danny to be done."

Morgan agreed with her. She wouldn't be able to help Danny, even if she stayed behind.

"I gotta go. Don't worry, everything will turn out fine." Stella finished her coffee, threw the paper cup into the trash bin and left to finish up her work. "I guess so. See you tomorrow," said Morgan as she too, turned to leave, and quickened her steps to enter the elevator before the doors closed.

Tomorrow? Stella thought. She glanced at her digital watch and took note of the date. She turned to see if Morgan was still around, but she had already left in the elevator. "I should've known," she muttered to herself. "Tomorrow's the day…"

**XXX**

The next morning, Morgan arrived at work to find that Danny had yet to show up. He was already out when she got up to get ready, and assumed that he had come in early to get some work done, or he got an early callout to a crime scene somewhere. Stella came through the elevator doors at that moment and Morgan asked casually if Danny got assigned a new case, despite what had happened the night before. "No, we still have some follow-up work to do on the case," Stella said. She also added that Danny had been assigned to desk duty, per Mac's orders, for that day.

"If you're looking for Detective Messer, he called earlier to take the morning off," came a voice behind them. Morgan and Stella had been standing within earshot of the receptionist at the front desk, Amy.

"Really? Did he say why?" Morgan asked, but Amy shook her head and said Danny never gave a reason whatsoever.

"I don't think he would try to get off desk duty by coming in late, do you?" Morgan was mildly puzzled at her brother's secretive behavior, but then again, it was something that she was fairly used to. However, that day was different. Somehow, Morgan could feel that something wasn't quite right.

Stella grabbed Morgan's arm and steered her over to the locker room, where it was easier for them to talk privately.

"Is something wrong?" Morgan asked, confused.

Stella was unsure if she should be the one telling Morgan about this, but knew that if Danny had meant to let his sister know, she would've known a long time ago. What's more, five years is a long time not to talk to anyone about it. Danny shouldn't have had kept it to himself. Stella also hoped that by letting Morgan know; maybe she could help talk Danny into letting things go.

"Danny probably wouldn't want you to know this…"

Morgan wondered if the suspect from the day before was going to charge him with assault, or something to that effect. She certainly wasn't expecting what Stella was about to say.

"Five years ago, on this day, an officer of the NYPD – a patrol cop, died of multiple gunshot wounds. He was someone that Danny knew."

Morgan's mind was in a whirl. Danny had never told her anything about this, as far as she could recall, she didn't realize that there was any sign that Danny was dealing with the death of a friend. "Five years ago…" Morgan muttered, trying to think back, to see if she could remember anything. "Wasn't that the year he transferred here, to CSI?" she asked.

Stella nodded. "I personally processed the crime scene," she said. "With Danny."

Morgan was shocked. She could imagine how hard it was for Danny then, and wanted to kick herself for not realizing that her brother was going through such pain back then. What she couldn't understand was why Danny felt like he needed to keep this a secret. A lot of thoughts were going through Morgan's mind at that moment, and suddenly a dreadful thought ran through her. Could that officer's death have had something to do with Danny's past with the Tanglewood gang? That could explain why he didn't want Morgan to know about this. However, she couldn't be sure, not without asking him. She knew that even if she asked, chances are she wouldn't get any answers out of him.

Before Morgan could ask any more questions, Stella got a call from Dispatch about her case and left hurriedly.

With no one else to turn to for answers – Danny had obviously gone to visit his friend's grave, it wasn't a good day for Morgan to ask him about this – she decided to do a search on the Internet for articles pertaining to the case. Morgan sat down at the computer in the A/V Lab and did a search on shootings that occurred five years ago, on that exact date. Being New York City, there was more than one search result, and Morgan realized that she had forgotten to ask what the late officer's name was, which would have helped greatly. "Guess I'll have to look at every one of these reports," Morgan said with a sigh. Luckily, it was still early in the day, and there were no cases at hand that she needed to work on.

She had gotten started on the fifth or sixth report – she couldn't remember – when she thought she saw a familiar name.

"Cole Bryant…this name sounds familiar…" Morgan went on to scan through the news report. The headline read, "One of New York's finest killed in the line of duty, no suspects found."

As usual, the report only contained brief details that were released by the police to the media. Morgan wished she could find out more by reading the police reports on the case, but she knew she wouldn't be able to gain access to them unless someone higher up the ranks helped her out. All the report said was that Sergeant Cole Bryant had been found in a back alley, in his patrol area, with gunshot wounds to his chest and torso. He was shot with his own gun, probably a result of a scuffle with the perp, and no suspects had been identified at press time.

A picture of Cole Bryant had been published together with the report, and that was when it hit her – he was the police officer that came to her home when she was about 8 or 9 years old, informing her that Danny had been hospitalized! Morgan had had brief contact with him during Danny's hospital stay, as he had visited him a few times. Even though that had happened about 14 years ago, it left a deep impression on Morgan although it was only when she saw his picture that she recognized him.

"Hey, Morgan, I need your help with this…" said Lindsay, as she walked into the A/V Lab holding a videotape and Morgan quickly closed the browser window upon hearing her voice.

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Thanks for reading! Please leave a review! 


	26. Cole Bryant

**Disclaimer:** CSI:NY and its characters belong to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions. I only own the original character Morgan Messer.

**Episode references/spoilers:**None.

Please read and review! Thank you for reading!

**26: Cole Bryant**

Helping Lindsay with the videotape that she had handed Morgan earlier took up more time than expected. By the time Morgan was finished with it, it was already evening, and she'd still been unable to find out more about the late Officer Cole Bryant beyond the news article she was reading earlier in the day. She'd wanted to talk to Danny about it, but didn't know how to bring it up with him without him losing his temper. Moreover, Morgan saw her brother leave the lab in a hurry a while ago, and assumed it was work-related.

"Hey, Morgan. Seen your brother anywhere?" Stella said, popping her head into the A/V Lab.

"No. Last I saw, he was heading for the exit, about 2 hours ago. Isn't he still on the case with you?"

Stella then told Morgan that she had already closed the case more than 2 hours ago, Danny shouldn't have been out working the case.

"Then where has he gone?" Morgan muttered to herself as Stella shrugged her shoulders.

"Who knows what the hell is going in his mind half the time," Stella griped.

With a sigh, Morgan took out her cell phone from her lab coat pocket and dialed Danny's number, it rang for a few moments but it seemed like he cut off the call.

"He cut off the call without even answering," Morgan said, as she flipped the cell phone shut.

"Let me try," said Stella. No luck either, for Danny didn't answer her call too.

Just as Morgan was wondering where her brother could've gone, Stella spoke. "I know he's had a hard time dealing with that officer's death. But Danny being Danny, he keeps it all in. I don't know how long he can go on like this."

Five years ago, Stella and Danny arrived at the crime scene where a dead Officer Cole Bryant lay in a pool of his own blood and rainwater, in a back alley. The case went cold nearly right from the start, for a bout of rain just before the body was found probably washed away any trace evidence there was to find. There were signs of a struggle, but they were unable to gather any DNA evidence from under Officer Bryant's nails. Suspects were brought in and questioned, but there was little to go on. Officer Bryant was shot with his own gun, and there were no other gunshot wounds from another gun so ballistics evidence was essentially useless.

"I had to take him off the case after a week," Stella added.

While questioning a suspect who was later cleared, his condescending behavior angered Danny so much that he lunged at the suspect and hit him a few times. He'd wanted to file a complaint against Danny, but Mac had managed to persuade Danny to apologize to the guy, albeit unwillingly, who eventually dropped the complaint.

"And for months after that, he was behaving just like Mac did with his unsolved cases: going through Officer Bryant's case file whenever he had the time, hoping to catch a break in the case."

Unfortunately, Officer Bryant's killer remains at large to this day. Stella had had a few suspects in mind, some troublemaking kids in the neighborhood where Officer Bryant patrolled, and also the neighborhood gang-bangers. But there was just too little evidence at the scene to work with; even Stella had thrown in the towel after a while.

"He never confided in anyone?" Morgan asked.

"No, he just kept to himself for a while. Never said anything about it to anyone, I never even saw him shed a tear," Stella replied.

_That's because he cries to himself alone, in the darkness of his own room, his own private space, _Morgan thought to herself. Even after their mother passed away, Danny had never shed tears in front of her – he was crying himself to sleep, Morgan had found out one night when she heard him sobbing in his room when she came out for a glass of water.

Morgan's cell phone rang before she could reply Stella, and she flipped it open to answer the call.

"Hey, what's up with Danny?" It was Flack.

"Why are you asking?" Morgan said.

"One of my officers in the precinct said he saw Danny at Sullivan's, looks like he's drunk. Did something happen?"

Morgan relayed this to Stella as Flack remained on the line.

"Drunk?" Stella was surprised. Danny never got drunk; his usual was two bottles of beer, maximum, even though that only made him tipsy, never drunk.

Morgan was just as surprised as Stella, for she knew Danny would never get himself drunk – he'd told her that he wouldn't, because he might get called out to a crime scene anytime – he needed to stay alert and sober.

"Are you busy? Could you give me a lift to Sullivan's? I'd like to get my brother home before he gets himself in trouble," Morgan said to Flack over the phone. Having finished his work for the day, Flack replied that he'd be right over.

"Need me to tag along?" Stella asked. "Just in case you need an extra pair of hands in dragging him outta there."

"Nah. I think Flack and I have it covered," Morgan said with a smile.

**XXX**

"Why don't you stay in here, I'll go in and get Danny," Flack said as he pulled up outside Sullivan's.

"What's wrong with the both of us going in?" Morgan said as he exited the car.

Flack flashed her a look, something that told Morgan that Flack didn't want her to go in there, for some reason.

"That's not a place for you," he said. Morgan looked at him with a raised eyebrow, saying, "You kidding me? Why is it not a place for me?"

Flack fumbled with his words, saying something about how things could get messy, he didn't want her getting caught in the mess, blah blah. Finally, Morgan relented. "Fine. I give up. I'll wait here," she said.

Morgan got out of the car as Flack entered the bar and stood leaning on the side of it.

"'Bout time someone came and got him," the bartender said the moment he saw Flack walk in the door. "He's had more than his usual of two bottles, got into a beef with some guy and nearly hit him," the bartender continued as he gestured to Danny's limp form slumped over the table. He hadn't even realized that Flack was standing right next to him.

"Messer, come on, get up. Let's get ya home," Flack said as he lifted one of Danny's arms, draped it across his shoulder and pulled him up from his seat. Danny mumbled inaudibly in protest to someone pulling him from his seat, but offered no resistance as he was nearly dead drunk. "Where are you taking me?" Danny managed to say.

"Dude, I just said I was gonna get ya home," Flack said with a grunt, as he helped Danny towards the door.

"Hey, he hasn't paid for his drinks yet!" The bartender yelled after him.

"Just put it on my tab, okay!" Flack grunted, as he felt Danny's body get heavier and heavier in his arms.

Luckily, Morgan had seen him coming out the door and came forward to help with getting Danny in the car.

"How much _did _he drink?" Morgan said as they managed to push Danny into the back seat of the car, where he promptly lay down horizontally on the seat and seemed to have passed out. "Beats me," Flack replied. "I just wanna get him home before he wakes up and pukes all over my car. If he does, I'm getting _you _to clean up his mess," he added.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, you love me too much to make me clean up puke." Morgan teased.

"Is that so?" Flack said sarcastically as he stuck his key into the ignition and drove off. Meanwhile, Danny was stirring slightly in the backseat, and Morgan heard him say, "Where am I?"

"Shut up, Messer," said Flack, who sounded a little miffed, probably from worrying if and when Danny would puke all over his car. One of the other detectives in the precinct had taken a ride in Flack's car while drunk, some time ago, and his worst fear came true – the guy threw up all over the backseat of Flack's car. He could swear that the smell lingered in the weeks after that. There was no way he was going to let that happen again. If it came to it, Flack thought to himself, I'm gonna kick Danny out of the car to let him puke, I don't care if Morgan gets mad at me.

Danny repeated his question again, "Where am I? Where are we going?", and it was now Morgan who was feeling a little miffed. "We're taking you home, quit asking already!"

"You seem pissed. You okay?" Flack asked.

Morgan then related briefly what she had found out about Officer Cole Bryant.

"I was also on that case. Poor guy," Flack said. "Did Danny say anything to you, or confide in you at all?"

"No," Flack answered. "He never said anything to me. I guess it was because we hardly knew each other back then. But I did notice he was feeling kinda depressed for a while, figured he was going through a rough patch with some girl or something."

Morgan flashed him a sideways glance. "In all the time that you've known my brother, have you ever seen him date a girl?" she said.

"Like I said, I didn't know him all that well back then. How was I to know?"

**XXX**

After a long drive through the New York City traffic, the three of them finally arrived at Danny and Morgan's apartment. Flack and Morgan carefully helped Danny out of the car, into the elevator, the apartment and onto the couch; where he lay in a drunken stupor while Morgan went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea for him. "Watch him for a minute, will ya?" she said to Flack. "I don't want him to throw up on the couch either."

Morgan emerged from the kitchen minutes later with a cup of tea in her hands, as Flack looked up at her from the couch, looking absolutely thankful for her return from the kitchen. "What's wrong? You look horrified," she said to Flack.

"He _very _nearly threw up on me," he answered and Morgan let out a sigh as the both of them each lifted an arm of Danny's and dragged him up from the couch.

"Where to?" Flack asked. "To the bathroom. Sit him next to the toilet bowl; he can throw up all he wants in there."

After they had "deposited" Danny in the bathroom, Flack and Morgan headed for the kitchen. "You should go, it's getting late," Morgan said. Flack insisted on staying a while longer, at least until Danny is feeling more sober, but Morgan refused. "I can handle it on my own," she said.

"There was that one time, a looong time ago."

"Oh, what did you do?" Flack had a look of curiosity and caution on his face.

"Let's just say you'll probably be hearing about it for the next couple of days to come," Morgan said with a little smirk.

Soon after, Flack prepared to leave. "You sure you'll be okay alone?"

"Yeah, sure! I've been taking care of my brother for the past ten or so years, what do you think?"

"Okay then, call me if you need me," Flack said as they stood at the doorway of the apartment, and he leaned in towards Morgan to give her kiss on the lips. "You're lucky Danny's lying drunk in the bathroom," Morgan joked as they broke away from the kiss.

After Flack left, Morgan headed for the bathroom where her brother was lying flat on his back, the lower half of his body in the bathroom, the upper half on the outside of it and his arms were spread wide open. Morgan rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and began to roll Danny over his side, so that she could remove his coat. "Oof. Danny, you have gotta lose some weight," she muttered under her breath as she rolled him to his other side to get his other arm out of the coat sleeves. Morgan managed to finally get the coat off of Danny and placed it nearby on the floor, then gingerly reached for the badge on his belt and pulled it out without awakening him. Next was his gun. Danny had taught her how to handle a gun the right way before, "just in case", and now she was putting that knowledge to good use. Morgan slowly removed the holster and gun from Danny's waist and carefully placed on the floor. Now that that was done, she picked up the coat, badge and gun and placed the items in Danny's room.

Morgan then went to the kitchen and re-emerged with a large empty bowl in her hand, and headed for the bathroom.

Splash! "What the hell was that for?" Danny said groggily.

Morgan had filled the empty bowl with water from the tap in the bathroom, and splashed Danny in the face with it. "To wake you up. Do you intend to spend the whole night passed out in the bathroom?" she said, throwing him a towel as he slowly picked up himself up from the floor.

"Still, you didn't need to do that," Danny said as he dried his face and hair with the towel, feeling more sober now.

"I had to. I wanted you to wake up from your drunken state."

"And why is that? Couldn't it wait till morning?"

"No."

Sometimes, Danny didn't really know why he put up with all this.

"Okay, fine. Shoot."

"Cole Bryant. Who was he?"


	27. Morning Sharing Session

**Disclaimer: **CSI: NY and its characters belong to CBS and Jerry B. Television. I just own this story and the original character Morgan.

**Episode References/Spoilers: **Not much, just a little mention of Sonny Sassone from "Tanglewood" and "Run Silent, Run Deep", as well as a _teeny _mention of Mac's remark from "On The Job".

**Note: **As my fic is slightly-AU, there will be some discrepancies regarding Danny's Tanglewood history, but it's just some minor things, doesn't differ that much from the show's plotline. Just mentioning it, hope I don't confuse anyone in the process of developing my story. )

Read and review, please!

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**27: Morning Sharing Session**

"You know, I'm not even gonna ask how you found out."

Danny finally stood upright, but he lurched forward all of a sudden as a wave of vomit threatened to come forth. He grabbed onto Morgan's arms and croaked, "I think I'm gonna throw up." He crouched back down again as Morgan said, "Oh, come on; don't try to change the subject here."

"I'm serious!" That was all Danny managed to say before he really threw up and Morgan quickly escaped the bathroom. "Don't expect me to clean up your puke in there," she called from the living room. Morgan heard more retching, and Danny emerged from the bathroom after a while.

"You look like hell," Morgan commented and he shot her a glare with his tired eyes. Danny stumbled over to the couch as he asked Morgan for a cup of water.

"That'll teach you not to get drunk next time. No, make that _ever_," she said as she went into the kitchen.

"Hey, you never answered my question; don't think I'm letting you off easy."

Morgan waited a few moments, but Danny didn't seem to have responded to her remark. She went over to the couch with the glass of water and set it down on the table to take a look at him. "Asleep, already?" she said to herself when she saw Danny curled up on the couch with his eyes closed. To make sure, Morgan grabbed a cushion and slapped Danny over the head with it – he didn't even stir, he'd already passed out from all that alcohol.

She was tempted to wake him up, but decided against it, because he would get grumpier and wouldn't want to talk.

**XXX**

Danny awakened with a massive headache the next morning, and was a little disoriented, having woken up in the couch instead of his bed. There was however, his blanket draped over him, and knew it must have been Morgan.

"Morning," Danny looked up and saw his sister sitting on the edge of the couch. "Morning," he said in a hoarse voice as he massaged his temples. He took one look at Morgan's smug look and knew what she would most probably say. "Don't say a word," Danny said.

"You so deserve it," Morgan couldn't help but say. Danny asked for the time, and she replied that it was almost 9AM.

"What! Why didn't you wake me!"

"Even if I did, would you be able to work in this state?" Morgan answered, her arms folded in front of her. Admitting defeat to his splitting headache, he sat back down on the couch and asked for some painkillers. Morgan urged him to have breakfast before downing the pills, but Danny refused.

"How am I supposed to eat when there's a whole conga band pounding away in my head?"

"Whoo, cranky aren't we?"

Morgan came back from the kitchen with two pills and a glass of water in each hand. "Flack came by earlier, but he saw you passed out on the couch, so he – why are you looking at me like that for?" Morgan said when she caught Danny's raised eyebrow-look.

"Nothing, I thought I felt my spider senses tingling," he replied dryly. Danny didn't need to spell his words out for Morgan to understand what he was trying to say. Oh, she understood…

"Isn't it a little early for your mind to be in the gutter?" Morgan said, adding, "Open your mouth." She slapped the pills into Danny's open mouth and thrust the glass of water towards him. "Flack just came by to see if you needed a lift to work, okay?"

Flack dropped by the apartment when Morgan was still asleep – it was her day off, otherwise she'd be awake. Knowing that Danny would probably be having a major hangover that morning, he came to offer a ride to the crime lab, but Danny was in such a deep slumber that Flack couldn't bear to wake him. Morgan wasn't the only one who'd had a taste of Danny's grumpiness from lack of sleep.

"Don't worry about work, Flack called in sick for you," Morgan said. "And what are you still doing here?" Danny replied.

"My day off."

Danny's stomach began to rumble, and he went into the kitchen in search of breakfast. "Here," Morgan set a bowl of cereal onto the table. "We're running out on groceries, I'd have to go to the supermarket later," she added.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" Danny asked in between mouths of the cereal. "Nah, I'm just gonna watch you eat." Morgan said. She'd already had her breakfast after Flack left and before Danny woke up. She sat down with him at the table and attempted to broach the subject of Cole Bryant, as she didn't get a chance to do that last night.

"So, you never answered my question last night."

Danny hesitated, trying to decide if he should feign ignorance and tell Morgan that he didn't remember what she'd said last night, but decided not to. She would just be even more persistent, better to face it head-on, Danny thought. "Why do you wanna know about him, anyway?"

"I just thought that it's better for you to talk to me, than to go to the department psychiatrist few years down the road."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying you should learn to open up once in a while. Keeping everything to yourself is only going to make things worse."

"Didn't we have this sort of conversation before already?"

"I know you find me to be a nag sometimes, but if it gets the job done, I'm willing to be a nag."

Stubbornness would definitely be a common trait of the Messer family, and Danny certainly didn't want to be nagged at by his little sister. "Are we really going to have a sharing session _this _early in the morning?" Danny protested. "Why not? I have all the time in the world today."

"Look," Morgan said. "I already know the specifics of the case, I even know that the late Officer Bryant was the one who turned up to tell me you'd landed in hospital," she continued, referring to the incident that got Danny in hospital for nearly a month, 14 years ago.

"Since you already know everything, why are you still asking me?"

"I guess I don't understand why you felt the need to hide this from me. He was obviously a close friend, and there's nothing bad about befriending a cop, so…"

It wasn't so much the fact that he'd kept it from her, but how he could mask his emotions so well that Morgan never even realized at the time, five years ago, that he was dealing with the death of a friend. "You were in high school, I was a rookie CSI. To be honest, we were hardly around each other during those couple of years," Danny said.

Perhaps it was the painkillers. Danny felt a little numb and apparently, in the mood to share now.

Five years ago, he had just transferred to CSI. Never did he expect he would end up investigating the death of someone close to him, just months into the job. Until the day Cole Bryant died, Danny had known him for nearly ten years. He was 18 then, and going through a rough time in his life. He regarded Bryant as a benefactor, friend and mentor. If it weren't for him, Danny wouldn't have found his direction in life.

"I probably would've died, if it weren't for him."

_Fourteen years ago, Danny survived a beating by the Tanglewood Boys. He had never been officially been initiated into the gang – meaning he didn't have a Tanglewood tattoo on his upper back – Danny had been hanging around them for a few years. He knew they were bad news, but misguided and lacking in fatherly love, he nearly went down the path of no return. Luckily, his conscience prevailed and he'd tried to get himself out of the mess he'd stepped in, but Sonny Sassone wouldn't let him off so easily. Danny knew many things about them, and although Sassone did not think that he'd ever get arrested even if Danny ratted him out to the cops, he didn't take too well to snitches. _

"Sassone threatened me, beat me up, and stupidly, I stuck around for a while." Danny intentionally left out what the threat was about. Sonny Sassone had scared him into sticking with them by threatening him with Morgan's safety. He'd decided long ago that she did not need to know that, unless it came to a point where it had to come out.

_It was that very day that he'd met Cole Bryant. In pain and covered in bruises, he stopped by a bodega to get some smokes, planning to hang around the neighborhood until it got late. Danny knew Morgan would be waiting up for him, but would go to sleep if it got too late. Even though his sister was only an 8-year-old at the time, she'd already honed her nagging skills. Danny wasn't going to let her see these bruises on his face; she'd kick up a storm about it. Bryant was nearing the end of his shift on patrol when he stopped at the bodega to grab a snack and coffee and he spotted Danny. _

"_Hey, kid. Got a second?" Bryant had noticed the bruises on Danny's face and waited outside by his squad car till Danny came out of the store. "You need a ride to the hospital? You should go and get checked out by a doctor," he said. Danny looked around the surroundings, fearing that he could get into more trouble than he already was if any of the Tanglewood Boys saw him anywhere near a cop. _

"_No. I'm fine." Danny said, despite his aching body. Deep down, he felt a tinge of warmth over the chill of the night. Bryant, in his early 30s, showed more concern for Danny than his father did in the course of one year. His chiseled features and unsmiling face belied a warm heart, and Danny was grateful for that. _

_Bryant put Danny into the backseat of the squad car anyway, and got out the first-aid kit. Despite Danny's protests, Bryant dressed his wounds, applying antiseptic cream to any visible open wounds and putting a band-aid or bandage on them. Next, he went back into the bodega to get some ice and told Danny to hold onto it, for his face. "You didn't need to do this," Danny said. _

"_I didn't do this for you, kid. Wouldn't want your parents to get the shock of their lives, would you?" Bryant replied. _

"_My mother's dead. I've got no idea where my father is," Danny spat. "It's just me and my little sister, now." He was surprised. It wasn't in Danny's nature to talk about something so personal with someone he'd just met minutes ago. _

"_Well then, I wouldn't want you to scare your little sister with all those bruises on your face." _

_After he'd gotten Danny cleaned up, Bryant handed Danny his number on a piece of paper, telling him that he could give him a call any time he needed help. As touched as he was for this helping hand, Danny's stubbornness took over and he grabbed the scrap of paper from Bryant's hands as he said, "Yeah, we'll see about that." _

"I don't know why, but his was the only number I could remember when I was lying in the middle of the road that night."

Weeks after Danny took Morgan and moved to another neighborhood to get away from it all, Sonny tracked him down. He'd had meant to 'finish' Danny off, to get it into his head that no one could stand up to him and walk away unscathed, and also to shut him up lest Danny went to the cops with whatever he knew about the gang. But, he had underestimated Danny's willpower. He wasn't going to go down that easily.

Danny paid a high price for his resistance, and landed himself in hospital for nearly a month. It was only during that time that he'd opened up to Bryant, probably because there was no one else he could talk to, Morgan was too young and didn't need to hear all that. One of the many injuries he'd sustained was to his wrist, which ended his baseball career before it could blossom into something big. "I'd barely started college when I lost my baseball scholarship." Unable to afford his tuition fees without a scholarship, Danny dropped out and bounced from one job to another for the next year or so.

Finally, after almost two years of aimlessly living life, with Bryant's encouragement and help, Danny decided to obtain his college credits by taking night classes while he enrolled in the police academy. He refused to let Bryant write off the loan he'd given Danny for his studies and promised to repay him bit by bit once he started getting a salary from the NYPD. Bryant agreed, but said that he would not accept Danny's money until he'd made the Detective grade. "Cole was single, no parents or siblings. He said he was in no hurry to use the money, it was just sitting in the bank anyway." Lucky for Danny, he managed to pass the required character and background investigation – just barely. He was reminded of it when Mac said to him, months ago, that people had discouraged him from hiring Danny.

"Happy now?" Danny said, after he'd finished telling the story. Morgan nodded slightly, deep in thought.

"Danny… I've always wanted to ask you something. Have you ever –"

He knew what Morgan meant before she even finished her sentence. "No, never. Not once."

"Let me finish my sentence, will you?"

"Don't have to."

"You _never _once thought of giving me up? Even when you were working two jobs a day?"

"Never. I swore in front of Mom's grave that I'd take care of you. She'd kick my ass if I didn't."

Tears filled Morgan's eyes as Danny groaned.

"I'd like if I didn't start my morning on such a sappy note."

"Shut up."

"Fine, come here…" Danny said as he gave his sister a hug and Morgan began to cry.

"Oh, great."

* * *


	28. Conversations in a Graveyard

This is just to tie up the Cole Bryant thingy, and to create a little hoo-ha about what's to come in the next chapter...! I've been dying to write about the Tanglewood follow-up for sooo long, and even though I've had to change some of things I'd thought up some time ago so that it would tie in more with the show's own plotline, I managed to merge it with mine quite nicely (I think?).

**Disclaimer: **CSI: NY is the property of CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer. I only own the characters Morgan Messer and Cole Bryant.

Please leave a review, and thanks for reading!

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**28: Conversations in a Graveyard**

"Why'd you bring me here, Danny?" Morgan asked.

Danny had dragged his sister out of the house without saying why, then drove the both of them to the graveyard where Cole Bryant was buried.

"I thought you would've liked to meet him," he answered.

"Yeah, I did. But you could've done away with all the secrecy, ya know."

They stood in front of Cole Bryant's grave, a simple tombstone with the date of his birth and death, as well as the words "an honored member of New York's finest" etched onto it. The flowers that Danny had brought yesterday were still lying atop the grave, and he crouched on the ground as he swept away any fallen leaves with his hands.

"Hey, Cole. I know you're probably wondering what I am doing here two days in a row…" Danny said while Morgan stood over him silently.

Morgan seldom visited graveyards, the only time she visited one was during her mother's death anniversaries, and she'd never gotten used to it even after all these years. It wasn't because of all the horror stories about ghosts rising from the graves and all that; it was because the feelings of sorrow that came with the place that bothered her. Each time she went to a graveyard, she was reminded that everyone buried there had left behind a loved one, someone who would miss them forever.

"You know, you were right," Danny continued. "Some things can never be kept secret. You also said that one day; Morgan would finally figure things out. Guess what? She really did."

"And here's Morgan," Danny got up and stood next to his sister. "The last time you saw her, she was what, 8 or 9 years old?"

Morgan lowered her head in a small bow as she said, "We met at the hospital. I remember yelling at him and calling him a jerk because he wouldn't let me into the room to see you," and smiled at the memory.

**XXX**

"_Does your sister know about what got you in here?" Cole Bryant asked._

_During Danny's long hospital stay, he came by nearly every day during his break, like clockwork. When Cole Bryant received Danny's call in the middle of the night asking for help, he wasn't expecting to find Danny in a semi-conscious state in the telephone booth and bleeding all over. "Danny, wake up!" Cole said repeatedly as he slapped Danny's cheeks lightly to rouse him, after making a 911 call. _

"_Danny, you gotta hang on, you hear me? Think of your sister!" Cole said to him in the ambulance. Danny then regained consciousness momentarily and begged Cole not to say anything to his sister, Morgan. _

_Cole Bryant stayed by an unconscious Danny's bedside all night until it was time for his shift, questioning himself over and over if he had done the right thing by encouraging Danny to stand up to Sonny Sassone. If he hadn't talked Danny into doing that, then he wouldn't be in this state right now, Cole thought to himself. _

"_Please…don't tell Morgan about this…" Danny's plea rang in his ears. _

_In the end, he broke his promise and turned up at the siblings' apartment to bring Morgan over to the hospital. _

"_Is Danny okay? Is he in a lot of pain?" Morgan asked as she sat in Cole's squad car, accompanied by a neighbor who babysat her whenever Danny wasn't around. Although he didn't like the idea of lying to this little girl, Cole could only very briefly say that her brother had gotten into a fight and was beaten badly. Tears welled up in little Morgan's eyes as she imagined her brother in pain and suffering. "Officer, you'll catch those guys who beat up my brother, won't you?" _

"_Have you caught the people who beat up my brother?" Morgan asked some days later. She and Cole had been waiting outside Danny's hospital room as the doctors gave him a check-up. _

"_I'm sorry, little lady. I'm doing my best, but those guys are sneaky." Cole said, giving her a sugar-coated version of "we're never going to catch them". The truth was, even if he hauled Sonny Sassone and Co. into the precinct, odds are they'd be walking out of there before he could even read them their rights. Witnesses were next to none, and even if there were they'd be too afraid to step up and testify. Basically, it was Danny's word against theirs. Danny had a lot of dirt on Sonny Sassone, and there's no telling what they'd do if he had confessed that it was the Tanglewood Boys that did a number on him. _

_When Danny was admitted into hospital, the doctors had wanted to file a police report. It would've been Cole's decision too, but after Danny regained consciousness he had insisted on not filing one, the doctors couldn't do anything and Cole knew it would come to naught even if they had. _

"_Well, maybe you're not working hard enough," an annoyed Morgan said as she stalked off and went back to be with Danny. _

_Boy, she's a feisty one like her brother, Cole thought to himself with a smile. He wondered just how much this little girl took after her brother, besides the strong resemblance in their eyes and apparently, their short tempers. He only hoped that her sake and Danny's, the Tanglewood Boys would not come after Danny again. _

**XXX**

"She actually said that to you?" Danny said in disbelief as he faced Cole Bryant's grave. "No wonder he always said you resembled me a lot, more than I thought."

Danny let out a sigh, one of relief.

"You know, it really does feel better, having let things out."

Cole Bryant had always urged Danny to confide in his sister more, but Danny had always shrugged the topic off with his usual answer: "She's too young, how much can she understand?"

He was a good judge of character, and although he hadn't had much time to interact with young Morgan, Cole Bryant could tell that the girl, though young, had the maturity of a kid years older. Somehow, he always had the feeling that Morgan understood more than her brother thought.

"Since you're in a sharing mood today, can I ask you something?" Morgan said.

"Uh, yeah. Shoot."

"Is there anything else you're keeping from me?" Morgan asked. "And I don't mean the number of girlfriends you've had and how many of them you've slept with."

"Is there anything else that I **_should _**know that you're not telling me?"

Danny looked Morgan straight in the eyes. Although some people say you won't be able to look a person in the eyes if you were lying to them, but this was something that, sadly to say, he had been doing for quite a while now.

"No," Danny answered simply, and immediately after her question.

Bells of suspicion began to ring in Morgan's mind.

"That was a fast answer… something's up."

Danny's heart skipped a beat. As much as he'd done it, he never liked lying to his sister, precisely because of this reason. Sometimes, Morgan was like a human lie-detector, she always knew when he was lying about something. _How the hell **does **she do that? _Danny thought to himself. _Her talents are wasted in the crime lab, I'm thinking she should work for the FBI or something_, Danny couldn't help but think.

"Nothing's up, you asked me a question, I answered. Simple as that."

"Uh-uh. **_Something's _**up. I can feel it."

Little did she know her suspicions would be proved right the very next day…

"Shut up, I've told you what you wanted to know – end of story."

Danny turned to leave and began to walk where the car was parked, with Morgan following after him, badgering him to talk.

"Come on, you've told me so much already! A little more wouldn't kill ya!"

_If you only knew… _Danny thought to himself. It was something that Danny had sworn never to let Morgan know. There was no way he was going to go back on a vow, not when this secret could very well ruin the relationship between him and Morgan…


	29. Run Silent

**I'd like to remind all my readers again here that this story is slightly AU, just in case people get confused. Heh. **

**Disclaimer: **CSI: NY and its characters belong to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions.

**Episode Spoilers/References: **#2.20 - "Run Silent, Run Deep".

**Please read, and post a review to let me what you thought of the chapter. Thanks for reading!**

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**29: Run Silent…**

Little did Danny know that it would be the second time in two days that he would have to open up to Morgan about his secrets, however the secret he was going to tell his sister was by far the most damaging – it could destroy the bond Danny had with Morgan.

If Danny could have his way, Morgan would never hear of the secret.

Unfortunately, it had come to a point where Danny had no choice but to tell Morgan the truth.

**XXX**

Earlier, Mac had told him about the suicide of a man named Salvador Zabo. The deceased had placed a call to Mac about a body being buried somewhere in the Giants Stadium, and then, out of guilt, shot himself in the head with a shotgun. As the Giants Stadium was located in New Jersey, Mac had to get the assistance of the CSIs over there and subsequently unearthed skeletal remains on a spot at the north-end zone of the stadium. It was during autopsy that Dr. Sid Hammerback found out that Zabo had a patch of scar tissue on his upper back, the result of laser tattoo removal, revealing that Zabo was once a Tanglewood Boy.

For his own good, Mac wanted Danny to stay away from the case.

"You had contact with these guys a long time ago; I think it's best to keep you out of it."

"No argument there, whatever you say."

The last time Danny had gone against Mac's advice, he'd nearly landed himself in big trouble so this time, he was going to take Mac's advice and stay out of it.

Other items of evidence found in the makeshift grave also included a rusty old gun – a Colt 45, a shovel and a cigarette butt.

**XXX**

Meanwhile, Morgan watched on in curiosity in the A/V Lab as Mac and Adam worked on identifying the buried victim, by using the latest equipment purchased by CSI – FastSCAN – to build a face from the skull. The facial reconstruction is quickly taking shape and a digital image of what the victim would have looked like is revealed. Mac then instructed Adam and Morgan to check through Missing Persons reports and to send the image over to the New York Weekly and to make sure that "they don't make a spectacle out of it."

"It's the New York Weekly, they…" Adam began to say, but stopped when Mac turned his gaze on him. "I-I'll try," he finished, as Morgan chuckled at her colleague's apparent fear of Mac.

The next day, after the late edition of the New York Weekly was put out with the picture of the John Doe on the front page, a man claiming to be the father of the young John Doe came forward. His son disappeared fifteen years ago, and confesses to a compassionate Mac that his son got mixed up in dealing drugs back then to earn money for the family.

Danny was working on another case with Stella when Lindsay paged him and asked to see him. She was given the cigarette butt that was buried with the skeletal remains and managed to extract DNA off it. There was a match in CODIS, but what came as a shock to Lindsay was who the match was.

"The match came back to an internal control sample," she said to Danny, who took the computer printout of the DNA result from her.

"That means the smoker works here at the lab, how can that be."

Danny saw the name listed on the printout and he almost forgot to breathe for a moment. Shaken, he asked if Lindsay had told anybody else.

"No, just you…" She replied, and Danny walked off without a word.

As much as he hated it, Danny knew he had to go to Mac with the result and come clean with his boss, for he knew the gravity of the matter and what implications it meant. He found Mac in his office and handed him the file with the DNA match.

"The DNA on the cigarette butt…is mine." Danny said to a stunned Mac.

"You know what you say to me…is testimony," warned Mac.

Danny knew clearly what he meant, but what he needed at that moment was a friend, not a boss. He needed Mac to just hear him out. "Tell me everything,"

**XXX**

"My older brother, my half-brother, Louie, is a Tanglewood Boy. He's been running with Sonny Sassone for god knows how long."

But, Danny stresses, that he'd never been part of the Tanglewood Boys himself, although he had hung out with them on a few occasions. And one of those occasions was that night, fifteen years ago at the Giants Stadium. He had gone along with Louie, who said he and the Tanglewood Boys were going to Atlantic City to have fun, but instead Louie ended up driving them to the Giants Stadium, where Sonny Sassone and the late Salvador Zabo were already there.

"I was just tagging along,"

To his shock, there was a guy, bound and gagged, in Sassone's vehicle and the Boys proceeded to beat him up for dealing drugs on his turf. Danny couldn't bear to see the guy get beaten up any longer so he stepped in to stop them from killing the poor guy, but Louie was embarrassed by Danny's actions. He pushed his younger half-brother to the floor and told him to get lost. A hurt Danny left the stadium and was told by Louie later that they had dropped the guy off in a bad neighborhood and went off to Atlantic City as planned.

Obviously, Louie had lied and now has Danny implicated in the murder, making him the prime suspect. He believed that Louie wasn't the murderer, but unfortunately, it didn't matter at that time to Mac who the murderer was, because in terms of the evidence, Danny was the murderer.

Remembering that Louie was always bumming his cigarettes back then, Danny swore that he was never in the stadium, Louie probably took his cigarette and kept it when Danny threw it at him before he left the stadium. "I swear on my mother, I do not know." However, even though Mac believed in Danny's innocence, the evidence has yet to prove that. Until it does, Mac had no choice but to relieve him of active duty.

"You will have to give up your badge and gun, and be assigned to desk duty."

For the sake of Morgan, Danny asked Mac for some time before he called the Duty Captain over, to explain things to his sister. "I don't want her to find out in front of everyone else."

"I understand. She deserves to be told about this," Mac said. Danny thanked his boss gratefully and went off in search of his sister. _This is not going to be easy, _he said to himself.

**XXX**

"Hey, you got a minute?" Danny spotted Morgan in the break room. He went in and dragged her out and into the A/V Lab before she could even ask what was going on. Upon entering the A/V Lab, Danny found Adam in there working on something.

"Adam," Danny said gravely while pointing his thumb toward the door, "I'm gonna need some privacy with my sister."

A confused Adam obliged and Danny shut the door behind him as he left.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" Morgan asked.

"There's something I need to tell you," Danny began to say, when Morgan interrupted. "What, more secrets? I knew there was more that you weren't telling me."

Danny grabbed his sister by the shoulders and pushed her into a chair. Looking her in the eye, he said, "I just want you to know that whatever I've kept from you, is because I didn't want you caught up in this big old mess of things."

Morgan realized the seriousness of the matter, and began to worry. She followed Danny with her gaze as he paced around the room, who was trying to think of the best way to drop the bombshell on his sister.

"Do you remember this kid, Louie that used to come by when we were kids?"

"Louie…" Morgan said with a frown, trying her best to recall. "You know, back when Mom was still alive and Dad was…you know, around."

"Ah!" She began to recall vaguely, "Isn't he…an older cousin on Dad's side or something? The one we lived with for a while years ago?"

Morgan began to scrutinize her brother. "Why, did this Louie land himself in the precinct or in the morgue?" She knew it sounded a little callous of her, but she hardly remembered Louie or even what he looked like. Danny seemed to ignore her enquiry, saying, "The truth is, Louie isn't a cousin on Dad's side."

"Are you trying to tell me he's more closely related to us than you thought?" Morgan said. Shock and surprise flashed in Danny's eyes as he realized she had nearly guessed the truth. He quickly hid his surprise too late and Morgan had already caught that look of his and was only getting more suspicious by the second. "I was right, wasn't I?"

Danny took a deep breath, trying to ready himself for what was about to come. He never wanted Morgan to find out about this, at least not under such circumstances, but it seemed that the whole thing was about to blow up in their faces. "Will you just tell me what it is you're trying to say?" Morgan said, her patience running thin.

"You see…Louie, um…he's," Danny stammered, "Louie's…our brother. Half-brother, actually," he managed to say.

The only reply a stunned Morgan could think of was, "Dad had an affair?" She had subconsciously omitted her mother as a likely 'suspect', probably because she didn't want to believe her mother could've done such a thing.

Now that the most difficult part was (seemingly) over, Danny felt it was easier to open up to his sister. "No, Louie came along before Dad even met Mom. He had Louie with an ex-girlfriend; they broke up before Louie was born."

_How did he know all that? _Morgan thought to herself, it was as if Danny had all the details. But she would save that question for later; the pressing question in her mind was why Danny would tell her that all of a sudden. Morgan began to clench her fists to stop herself from losing her temper, "Why is it that you're telling me this all of a sudden?" she said.

No sooner could Danny muster up an answer, Morgan asked again, "Why didn't anyone tell me about Louie sooner?"

"It's…complicated," was all Danny could say. In truth, their parents had intended for Morgan to find out when she got older, but their mother passed away and their father… Besides that, Danny said, "Louie was also involved in some…things."

"Illegal things, you mean?" Danny nodded slowly.

"He was in the Tanglewood Boys?" She didn't know why, but that was the first thought that came to mind.

"So, did you figure that you would keep this from me forever, or were you counting on me to find out on my own?" Morgan continued. As their conversation went on, it felt less like Danny coming clean with his sister but more like an interrogation, with Morgan playing the part of interrogator.

"Listen to me, I –"

"I'm listening," Morgan said, trying hard to stay calm.

"There's more."

"Whoopee. Why didn't I see _that _coming?"

She couldn't help but be sarcastic.

"Mac found the remains of a body at Giants Stadium; it's been there for fifteen years."

"Yeah. I, ah, saw the guy's skull," Morgan replied and paused for a moment. "Don't tell me Louie had something to do with it."

Danny could no longer look his sister in the eye, for he was filled with guilt and shame. "You were there as well?"

Morgan couldn't stay seated any longer. She got up and circled the room, trying to piece all the information together and digest it. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Granted, her life was eventful enough with the death of her mother and her father, whose whereabouts were currently unknown, and a brother who was as guarded as Fort Knox. Never in her life did she expect it would only get more dramatic with the appearance of a half-brother…

"Look, it's not what you think."

"Then what am I supposed to think, huh?"

Danny braced himself for an expected outburst. "The thing is… my DNA was found on a cigarette butt uncovered at the scene."

Morgan felt her jaw drop.

"I swear, Morgan. I was never in the stadium."

"So you're saying that the evidence is lying?" Morgan retorted. "I wanna believe you, I really do. But I really don't know what to think now," she continued.

Danny professed his innocence again. "I'm telling you the truth, Morgan," he said, going on to admit that he had hung out with the gang on occasion, but he was never a part of the gang and he certainly didn't partake in anything illegal while with them.

Morgan almost had had enough.

"Tell me, Danny. If the body had never been discovered, would you have told me about all this?"

Danny couldn't answer. He had made a mistake; he shouldn't have assumed Morgan would be able to accept all this at one go…

"Answer me, Danny," she said, almost begging for an answer from him.

"I…don't know what to say. You're probably right…"

Danny looked back at Morgan's eyes and saw tears forming in her eyes; tears of anger, frustration and shock. She threw her hands up, seemingly in defeat. Morgan could take it no longer.

"So you decided that you'd just drop this whole damn bombshell – **_two_** bombshells – on me, all at once? Have you even thought of about how I would feel?"

Danny apologized, which wasn't something he did very often. "I know you're mad at me, you have every right to."

Morgan scoffed at his attempt at an apology, in spite of herself. "Yes, I'm mad at you. But I'm also scared _for _you! You may not have been initiated into the gang but you were with them on the night of the murder."

"I know, I was stupid."

Morgan held up a hand in defeat. "I have no idea what you thought would come of this conversation. But I gonna tell you, Danny," she said, as a tear fell down her eye. "I can't…I don't know how to handle all this right now."

"I never expected you to be able to process all this information at one go…"

"Well, obviously you thought I was strong enough to take the initial blow."

Danny apologized, again.

"Stop it. I'm sick of all this."

Morgan knew she was the one who was always trying to get her brother to open up, to be honest with her, but this was the first time that she felt that maybe things were better off before all this broke through the surface. "The more I find out, the more I think I don't know who you really are," she said.

Danny took a step toward his sister, but Morgan unconsciously backed away.

"I'm not as strong as you think I am," Morgan said. "I have my weak moments, and sometimes I feel like I'm still ten years old and in need of my big brother to watch over me," and walked out of the A/v Lab.

Danny was truly speechless. He had really overestimated how strong his sister was. At that moment, it was as if he knew why his little sister had always put up a strong front. _Maybe she thought if I felt she was strong enough, I could trust her enough to open up to her…_

A despondent Danny made his way back to Mac's office where he informed that the Duty Captain would arrive in a few moments. Concerned, Mac asked how it went with Morgan.

"I'm not sure if she'll ever talk to me again after all this is over,"

Meanwhile, Flack, who has gotten wind of the situation raced down to the lab in his car and was now scanning the lab looking for Morgan. Danny had called him and asked him to make sure Morgan was okay. Passing by the break room, he saw his girlfriend sitting in a chair with her head bowed low. Flack immediately grabbed a chair and sat down next to Morgan.

"I heard what happened, Danny told me." Flack said. Morgan raised her head upon hearing his voice and Flack saw that her eyes were red with tears. She was about to tell him about the talk she had with Danny, but Flack placed his index finger on her lips. "I know." He knew everything.

"I know I shouldn't have said that to him," Morgan said, referring to her harsh words to Danny. "I regretted it as soon as I walked out of the room."

"Maybe you should go and take a look at him," Flack said, telling her about Danny being ordered to hand over his badge and gun for the time being.

"Come on."

Morgan and Flack got to Mac's office just as the Duty Captain had finished briefing Danny. They were joined by Lindsay, Hawkes and Adam as they watch Danny hand over his badge and gun. Flack held Morgan's hand tightly as they looked on with worry, an unspoken reassurance that Danny will be okay. Danny glanced at Morgan through the glass, his expression full of worry and an unsaid apology.

"I'm sorry…" Morgan whispered. Seeing this, Danny smiled sadly at her…

* * *

**NOTE: **_Louie Messer is Danny's half-brother ONLY in my story. This was (perhaps) the only way I could work this episode of the show into my story was if I did it this way, so that I could explain the appearance of Louie. _

**Once more, thanks for reading!**


	30. Run Deep

_**Wow, this is the 30th chapter. And to think in the beginning I was only planning for about 20 chapters. **_

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**30: Run Deep…**

The secret was out, one that Danny had been keeping for the past twenty years.

Danny Messer seldom felt fear, but this time he did. He feared he could lose his job, freedom _and _his sister. He had just been asked to hand over his badge and gun and was stuck on desk duty until further notice. All because of a DNA sample belonging to him that was found on a cigarette in a makeshift grave at the Giants Stadium from fifteen years ago. The evidence was damaging for it could prove Danny's presence at the scene, even though he was never in the stadium. It was Louie, his half-brother who had bummed his cigarette that night.

Unless Mac could find evidence proving his innocence, Danny was seriously screwed.

Sitting at his desk, Danny only felt less and less secure. He was never the type to sit still, anyway. Since he couldn't do anything but sit and twiddle his thumbs (so to speak) Danny decided to take the day off, and Mac agreed to it. He threw on his jacket and prepared to head out. "You're going somewhere?"

It was Morgan, who looked uneasy, because she had said some things earlier to him that were pretty harsh.

"You don't have to say anything. I'm fine; I just need to be alone right now, alright?" Danny wasn't mad at her. In fact, he felt pretty bad for dumping all that on her. "I'm just going for a drive and then I'm heading home," he said.

**XXX**

About two hours after Danny left, Flack returned to the lab with the news from Dispatch that Louie Messer was just rushed to hospital; it seemed that he had taken quite a beating. It was no coincidence that it happened just shortly after Mac had looked him up. Corroborating Danny's story, Louie asserted that his younger half-brother was innocent and knew nothing, and that they dropped the guy off in a bad neighborhood just as he'd told Danny. After Mac told him the body and murder weapon had been uncovered, Louie pushed the murder on the already-dead Salvador Zabo. Mac sensed that Louie knew more than he was saying, but was unable to pull out more information from him.

"_All I care about right now is protecting my brother." _

It was obvious that Louie had gotten wind of Danny's situation, and he was determined to do something to get Danny out of the mess, for Danny was innocent and ignorant of the events that had gone on after he left the stadium fifteen years ago.

"EMS said Louie wasn't breathing," Flack said. Mac's first thought was Danny. "Where's Danny?"

Mac rushed over to the hospital in double-quick time, while Flack went to inform Morgan, he felt she had to know.

"Louie's been admitted into the ER in serious condition, I can't find Danny," Flack said.

"You think he heard about over the scanner? He has one in the car."

"It's possible."

If Danny already knew about it, chances were he was already on his way there. Seeing how vexed Morgan was, Flack suggested that she went along with him to the hospital and stay with Danny. However, Morgan was still feeling guilty over how she treated Danny earlier and she declined. "He said he wanted to be alone,"

"Don't worry, okay? I'll make sure he's alright," Flack reassured her.

**XXX**

"Louie! Who did this to you!" Danny saw paramedics pushing Louie out of the ambulance and raced over to see him, but he would only hinder the paramedics' work in his agitated state and so had to be restrained by hospital staff. "Don't you die on me, Louie!"

Mac, Lindsay and Flack rushed over to the hospital. Lindsay was sent to collect Louie's things for evidence processing, while Flack was stuck with the task of watching Danny, to make sure he remained at the hospital.

"You stay here with Danny, make sure this doesn't escalate." Mac didn't want him seeking out the Tanglewood Boys; neither did he want the Boys seeking Danny out. "You're responsible."

"Yeah, we're not going anywhere, trust me."

**XXX**

Waiting outside Louie's hospital room led Danny to recall the past.

He first found out the truth about Louie being his half-brother after his mother passed away. Before that, he was under the impression that Louie was a relative, a cousin from his father's side of the family. Even so, he was close with Louie, who used to visit quite often when they were kids. The truth was; Louie's mother was their father's ex-girlfriend, who found herself pregnant shortly after they parted ways. They never got married, but their father did the responsible thing and let their son take his last name and supported them financially. When he met and married Danny's mother a couple of years later, she graciously accepted Louie as part of the family. In fact, she was the one who suggested that Louie visit regularly. Danny came along when Louie was five, and the three parents agreed that the boys should be told the truth when they were a little older, they didn't want to keep secrets from the children.

That was why they felt that it was important for the boys to build up a bond from young, in the hopes that the transition would be easier on them, when it happened in the future. The years came and went, pretty soon Louie was in his early teens; and his mother felt that he was old enough to be told that Danny wasn't a cousin, but his half-brother. To her surprise, Louie took it very well and treated Danny even better than before. And when Morgan was born, he was even one of the first people to see her and carry her in his arms.

When Danny's mother was on her deathbed following a tragic accident, she wrote a letter to Danny explaining the situation with Louie and urged him to accept his half-brother. She also said that Morgan should also be told about Louie when she was old enough to understand – she was only three at the time.

Unfortunately, things fell apart with her death, and Danny's father distanced himself from his three children. A shocked and confused Danny had resented Louie for a while as he tried to cope with his mother's death, but things improved between them once he had the time to calm down and think things through.

"_Dad sent me a sum of money again," Louie said. It was a couple of years after the death of Danny's mother. By then, Danny hadn't seen his father for a whole month even though he always left enough money at home for Danny and Morgan to spend. Technically, his father wasn't always absent, but Danny always made sure he wasn't around to see the old man. He couldn't get over how his father had all but abandoned him and Morgan at a time when they needed him the most. _

"_Louie, I said I don't wanna talk about him!" It was a usual reaction from Danny whenever the topic of "his old man" was brought up. _

_A few months later, Danny who was then 15, "ran away" from home with Morgan and moved in with Louie who was twenty and was living on his own. He wanted to see if his dad would come looking for him, but the man seemed to be aware of his whereabouts and felt it was safe for his two young kids to live with Louie. _

That was when Danny came into contact with Louie's friends, the Tanglewood Boys. He began to hang out with them on occasion, tagging along as "Louie's kid brother". Things came to a head with the Giants Stadium incident, and Danny began to realize how stupid he was to almost want to be a part of all that.

Danny and Louie drifted apart after that day. However, he was often harassed by Sonny Sassone, who began to view Danny as a threat because he knew too much about what the Tanglewood Boys did. The only reason why Sassone didn't manage to do much damage to Danny at the time was because Louie stepped in to intervene. He assured Sassone that Danny wouldn't rat them out to the cops.

Cole Bryant came into the picture shortly after, and Danny found the courage to escape Sonny Sassone, taking Morgan with him and moving out of the neighborhood with Cole Bryant's help. That was when Sassone decided to take Danny out once and for all, but Danny managed to survive, although not unscathed.

In the whole month Danny was in hospital, Louie never once came to visit him. He couldn't face Danny or Morgan. But Danny didn't know that, and began to resent his half-brother. The hurt that he felt when Louie hit him in the face at the Giants Stadium never went away, and the two brothers hardly spoke during the fifteen years that have since passed.

**XXX**

"So Danny's cleared? He's okay?" asked Morgan.

Flack had just come to the lab with the news that Sonny Sassone had just been arrested for the murder, with the help of Louie. He had gone to Sassone, wearing a wire, and got the latter to unwittingly confess to what he had done that night fifteen years ago, and Mac was the one who had the pleasure of placing the cuffs on Sassone – something Mac had been wanting to do for a long time.

Ultimately, it wasn't the evidence that came through for Danny and exonerated him; it was Louie who had come through for him.

Morgan threw herself into Flack's arms, saying, "Thank you so much."

"I really didn't do that much, it was mostly Mac and of course, Louie."

"You're wrong, you did much more by just being there for Danny and for me," said Morgan and she stood on tip-toe to give him a kiss.

**XXX**

"Louie, it's me, Danny," said Danny as he stood at Louie's bedside, holding his hand. "I heard the tape…"

Danny now knew that Louie had chased him out of the stadium on purpose, to save him from being involved in what they were about to do. But a young Danny did not know that. "You couldn't have just pulled me aside and told me you were just putting up a front? And you gotta keep that up all these years?"

How stupid Danny felt. All these years of resentment towards Louie, and for what?

"I'm telling you now…that I forgive you. I understand why you did what you did."

He did. Danny really understood why Louie had to go and put himself at risk just to save his brother – his half-brother. He would've done the same thing if Morgan was the one in trouble and in need of help. Danny was even willing to give up his life in exchange for Morgan's if it ever came to it.

"I just wanna say…thanks for that. And I love you…you hear me, Louie?"

Morgan watched as Danny spoke to a comatose Louie.

"Is he… is Louie going to make it?" she asked. "Doctors don't know yet," said Flack, who had just spoken to one of the attending physicians.

"I never should have reacted so harshly earlier today," Morgan still hadn't had a chance to properly apologize to Danny, but Flack reassured her that her brother clearly told him he didn't take it to heart. But Morgan was still mad at herself, for caring more about her own feelings and less about the predicament of her brother. "I feel like I was so selfish."

"Danny dropped a bombshell on you. Anyone in your shoes would've over-reacted."

If Morgan heard Flack's reply, she didn't answer him and continued to watch Danny through the glass pane in the door. She had no idea what he was saying to Louie, but she could probably think of a few possibilities, one being Danny trying to make his peace with his brother for his attitude towards Louie during all those years. Danny would never have resented him and stayed away from him had he known of Louie's true intentions earlier.

Moments later, Danny emerged from the room with tears in his eyes. Surprised to see Morgan there, he walked off quickly to the elevator before Morgan could even start to say anything. She yearned to catch up to him, to tell him she was sorry, but didn't know quite exactly what to say. At Flack's urging, however, Morgan followed Danny to the elevator but he was already gone when she got there.

Down at the hospital entrance, Danny finally escaped the stifling feeling he had been putting up with since Louie was admitted and took deep breaths to keep calm. Just as Danny was about to break down, Mac walked up to him. The look in Mac's eyes made Danny feel warm, and loved… It was the first time that Danny really felt that Mac truly cared for him, not so much as a subordinate but as a friend, or even a son. He felt safe to let his guard down and let out what he'd been holding in for so long.

Morgan finally found Danny at the hospital entrance.

Danny – her big brother who'd always shown her nothing but his tough side – was now crying on his boss's shoulder.

This shocked Morgan on so many levels. She had never seen Danny shed a single tear, and there he was, sobbing. Mac, who was facing Morgan, noticed her approach and released Danny from his embrace. He nodded towards her direction and Danny turned to face her. Mac gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder as he passed the siblings.

"Take care of your brother," Mac said to Morgan.

Now left alone, the siblings looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Danny could care less that he was just seen by his little sister, crying like there was no tomorrow, he simply wasn't in the mood. Instead, he just laid his arms outstretched and Morgan went over to him and they hugged tightly, both relieved that the bad part was now over.

It was Morgan's turn to cry. "I'm sorry, Danny. I'm so sorry…"

Danny patted her back lightly while repeating over and over that he didn't blame her at all, that it was okay. That seemed to have a calming effect on Morgan, and her tears stopped flowing after a few moments. "You still could've told me about Louie earlier, you know," said Morgan in between sniffles.

"Yes, I know. My bad, okay?"

Seeing Louie lying in hospital reminded Morgan of when Danny had a similar experience, only he had survived that ordeal.

"There's one more, tiny, little thing that I haven't told you about…" said a tentative Danny. "Oh God, what is it?"

Danny felt that there was no point in keeping any more secrets from Morgan. Well, that was the last one, anyway… he hoped.

"Sonny Sassone… threatened me with your safety so that I would stick around longer."

Morgan's hand went up to her mouth. So ultimately, the reason why Danny got beaten up and landed in hospital for a month was partly because of her? She felt the tears coming on again, and Danny said, "I knew this would happen if I told you about this," and paused for a moment.

"And now, Louie's in this state because of me."

Hearing that, Morgan became filled with strength. She wiped the tears off her face and looked Danny in the eyes. She had to be strong, for both her brothers' sakes. "Louie's going to make it. He won't die on his little brother…and sister. We have to believe that he'll be okay."

Danny didn't know why, but the tears just came flowing down his cheeks once again, his guarded demeanor by now totally shattered.

Up in Louie's room, Morgan came face to face with her half-brother for the first time in years. "Hi, Louie…" she said.

Reaching out to touch his hand, Morgan mumbled almost to no one in particular, "Why are all the men in the Messer family the same? They'd rather be misunderstood and resented, rather than express their true feelings. Danny's like that for sure, and you too, apparently. And I guess Dad was probably the same."

"Can we not talk about our old man?" said Danny, who suddenly felt very annoyed.

A firm Morgan answered, "No. I want to talk about him. Don't you think we should find him and tell him about Louie, before it's too late?"

"Why, and for what? Do you think he's going to care after ignoring us all these years?"

* * *

_**Thanks for reading! Please leave a review... **_


	31. Stella

**I kinda screwed the previous upload and I had to delete the entry. Sorry to all the people who received the chapter alert and clicked on a non-working link. Okay, Stella takes center stage in this chapter... Hope you readers will like. **

**Episode Spoilers/References: **#2.21 - "All Access".

* * *

**31: Stella**

"How's Louie doing?" Flack asked. He and Morgan had just finished dinner at a restaurant a few blocks away from the crime lab. "There's been no sign of improvement so far," Morgan said with a sigh.

Louie Messer, Danny and Morgan's half-brother, had been comatose since the week before. Doctors did not harbor much hope of Louie ever waking up, but Danny did not want to give up – not just yet.

"Is Danny okay?"

"What do you think? But every time I ask, he says he's fine," Morgan replied resignedly.

Morgan had brought up the issue of trying to locate their MIA father, but Danny refused to talk about it. "If you need my help, just say the word and I'll do it," Flack said, but Morgan declined the offer.

"I want to wait till Danny is willing," she said. "He can be very unforgiving, I can't imagine what will happen if I do this behind his back."

Flack nodded slowly, agreeing with Morgan.

The couple was about to leave the restaurant when Flack received a phone call from Mac.

"Flack," he answered. "What? Is she okay? Yeah, I'll be right there."

"Who is it?" Morgan asked.

"I have to go. Something's happened to Stella, Mac's meeting me at her apartment."

"You'd better hurry then. I'll catch the subway home,"

"I could drop you off at the station," Flack offered, but Morgan declined. She preferred to walk to the subway station, which wasn't that far away.

Flack got into his car and prepared to drive off as he promised to call her once he knew more about the situation.

**XXX**

Mac and Flack reached Stella's apartment in double-quick time, and proceeded to enter, their guns drawn. Earlier, Mac was backstage at Kid Rock's concert where the singer's limo driver was found dead, and was alerted to a police dispatch calling in an 'officer down' situation at Stella's address.

Making their way carefully into Stella's apartment, the two detectives slowly survey the surroundings as they look for Stella. She is found lying face down and unconscious on the floor near her bed, and not far away from her was her boyfriend, Frankie. Mac raced over to Stella and tried to revive her. She awoke, asking for Frankie. Flack knelt next to him and checked for a pulse, but there was none. Frankie had been shot three times in the chest.

"Stella, what happened?" Mac asked at the hospital.

A shaken Stella replied that she didn't remember exactly what had happened. If she had shot her boyfriend Frankie, Stella had no memory of it. Mac reassured her that he would get to the bottom of things and returned to her apartment to process the scene, while Flack stayed behind with her. Now a victim of a crime, Stella needed to be processed from head to toe, including being checked out for any signs of sexual assault.

Stella's hand tested positive for gun-shot residue. Ballistics also confirmed that the bullets in Frankie's body came from Stella's gun. The question was: why would she shoot her boyfriend? Mac was determined to find out.

It was sunup. Back at the lab, Danny and Lindsay were stunned to find out about what had happened to Stella, especially Lindsay. However, Mac had told them to keep working on the limo driver's case and that he'd update them on anything new. Meanwhile, Mac was going through Stella's apartment where there had been obvious signs of a struggle. Perhaps Stella and Frankie got into a fight, he turned violent and Stella acted to protect herself? For the moment, Mac did not want to make any assumptions.

On the other hand, Flack remained with Stella, trying to piece things together on the events that led up to the shooting.

To his surprise, Stella revealed that she had actually ended things with Frankie. She had discovered that he had secretly videotaped them having sex and posted it up on his personal website, which was Bonasera spelt backwards. Stella refused to have anything to do with him, and Frankie began stalking her. She returned home the night before to find that Frankie had broken into her apartment and was even preparing dinner.

Stella had no idea how he had gotten in, she knew for sure that Frankie didn't have a key to her place. One of her self-imposed rules was, "no men in my apartment". Her home was a safe haven for her, and she didn't allow any of her boyfriends access just in case things went bad, then she'd still have a place to hide.

Even though Frankie had been stalking her persistently, Stella didn't think he would hurt her, which was why she refrained from pulling a gun on him at first.

However, things took a wrong turn when Frankie saw that she'd dumped a sculpture he had given her as a gift, into the trash. He placed it back on her dresser. Stella confronted him about it and he lost it. "Why didn't you call us?" Flack asked.

Stella couldn't. The phone line in her home was cut and when she tried to use her cell phone, Frankie attacked her. Being a cop, Stella tried her best to fight back but he was much bigger and stronger than her, plus he pulled a knife on her.

That was all she could remember at that moment, and Flack decided to let her rest for a while. He stepped outside to get a coffee for her, and called Morgan to let her know how Stella was doing.

**XXX**

"You didn't call all night. I was starting to get worried," Morgan said over the phone.

Flack assured her that everything was fine, except for one piece of bad news – Stella may have shot and killed Frankie.

"What? No way. Why would Stella do that?"

Morgan may not have been particularly close with Stella, but she sort of looked upon the latter as an older sister she never had, because of Stella's warm and friendly personality. She didn't know much about Stella's relationship with Frankie, but Morgan had seen him a couple of times when he dropped by the lab to pick up Stella.

Flack replied that Frankie took it pretty hard when Stella broke up with him, and had attacked her.

"He seemed like such a nice guy," Morgan said.

"The difficult part now is trying to get Stella to remember what exactly happened, only then can we help her," Flack answered.

**XXX**

The next thing Stella knew, she was being tied up by her wrists and ankles as an increasingly unstable Frankie professed his love for her. Hoping that he'd let her go, she said she loved him too but he hit her in the face, not believing her. Knocked out cold from the punch, Stella awoke to find Frankie watching her. "I'll teach you a thing or two about crime scenes," he said coldly and dragged her towards the bathroom.

"May I see your hands?" Flack asked. He had noticed some cuts on her hands and fingertips, but Stella still couldn't remember what caused those cuts.

They were caused by a razor blade, which she used to try and free herself.

Slowly, her memory came flowing back. Frankie had a knife, he was about to do something to her when the doorbell rang, it was a food deliveryman. Using the short time window when Frankie went to answer the door, Stella frantically tried to cut through telephone line binding her wrists together, but ended up cutting herself as her hands was behind her back.

Frankie returned to the bathroom and Stella, now free, hid behind the door and managed to knock him to the floor while she ran to get her gun. In the scuffle, Frankie wrestled the gun from her hands and pulled the trigger, but it didn't fire. Stella snatched it from him and got it to fire. She fired three shots, one hitting his heart – the fatal shot.

**XXX**

"Seems like I got here just in time," Morgan said from the doorway of Stella's hospital room. "And I come bearing flowers," she added.

She handed a bouquet of sunflowers to Stella. "Some of the lab techs and I chipped in to get this, and they sent me here as a representative."

"That's really sweet, thank you," Stella said and gave Morgan a hug.

"Can I say something now?" Flack interrupted.

The evidence had been presented to the Internal Affairs Bureau, and they had called it a justifiable shooting – Stella acted in self defense. She was officially cleared.

"Thank you… thanks for staying with me Don," Stella said.

"Hey, it's my job. Not to mention you're a friend."

"You're a very good friend," Stella added, and gave Flack a grateful hug.

**XXX**

Pulling up in front of Morgan's apartment building, Flack noticed that she had been frowning almost throughout the ride home. "Are you okay?"

Morgan stepped out of the car, and Flack did the same.

"I guess I just didn't expect something like that to happen to Stella. It made me think: what if it were me? I know I wouldn't be able to fight back like she did."

Flack grabbed her by the shoulders and said solemnly, "Trust me, if someone ever tried to hurt you, I swear I'll empty a whole clip of bullets into the guy."

"It's kinda morbid, but it's sweet of you to say that."

Morgan was about to give him a goodbye kiss when they heard someone coughing discreetly, rather loudly actually.

"Ahem!"

"Geez," Morgan said. "Danny?"

Holding up both hands, her brother said, "I was just passing by, didn't mean to peep or eavesdrop," while directing his gaze at Flack.

"Danny," Morgan said.

"I'm sorry," Danny said in a sarcastic tone. "I guess I'm still not used to the idea of my buddy kissing my little sister."

"Well, FYI," Morgan replied, "your little sister happens to be **_dating_ **your buddy, so what's the problem?"

Their little sibling spat was interrupted by Flack's inadvertent yawn.

Remembering that he'd been at the hospital with Stella since the night before, Morgan suggested that Flack have a cup of coffee or tea at their apartment before he headed back home.

"No, I'm fine, I'd better get going now," he replied after sneaking a glance in Danny's direction.

"You don't have to care about Danny, come on," Morgan said, pulling him across the street and towards their apartment.

"She's right. I don't want to be held responsible for driving you away should you fall asleep at the wheel."

"Shut up, Danny. Come on, Don."

Danny threw his hands up as he crossed the street with them.

"Don? You never call him Don!"

"I can call him whatever I want," Morgan said, as Flack cut in, "Anything but Donald."

Up in the siblings' apartment, Morgan went straight for the kitchen.

"Make yourself at home," she said to Flack. "Whatever she said," Danny said as he disappeared into his bedroom.

"Flack! I think we're out of coffee! Is tea okay with you? Besides the caffeine level in tea is actually higher than coffee," Morgan said as she searched for the coffee in the various kitchen cabinets, finding none. When she didn't get a reply, Morgan peeked into the living room and saw Flack dozing off on the couch, his jacket lying next to him.

Danny came out of his room and slammed his door shut. "Shh!" Morgan hissed. "What?" he said. He saw Flack asleep on his couch and was about to go wake him when Morgan stopped him. "Don't tell me you're going to let him sleep here," Danny said and she nodded.

"What!" Danny gawked. Morgan stood opposite him with her arms crossed, giving him her best "determined" look. Danny gave up and relented. Morgan then barged into his room to get a pillow and blanket for Flack to sleep on.

Morgan carefully and slowly removed Flack's badge and cell phone from his waist belt, leaving the gun for Danny to remove. The last time she removed her brother's gun for him, he nagged at her for a half hour. "Never again," she muttered to herself. Danny yanked Flack's gun from his holster but he didn't even stir from his sleep.

"Put this under his head," Morgan said, handing Danny the pillow.

He was about to do that when he heard Flack mutter Morgan's name in his sleep.

"Hey!" Morgan hissed. Danny had smacked Flack hard in the face with the pillow. Snatching it over from him, Morgan chased her brother away before he woke Flack up.

He had a long day, and she wanted him to have a good sleep.

* * *

**If you liked it, please leave a review! Thanks for reading.**


	32. Hello, and Goodbye

**Episode Spoilers/References: **#2.23 - "Heroes".

* * *

**32: Hello, and Goodbye**

"Man, what's-his-name was hot!"

Morgan and Flack both had the day off, and Flack took her to a baseball game. Although Morgan grew up with a baseball-loving Danny, she still knew nothing about the game.

Flack groaned.

"What?" Morgan said. "Are you jealous?" she teased.

"Well, a little," Flack grudgingly replied. "Did you even pay attention to the game?"

"Honestly, no," Morgan said with a grin. "Like I said, I know nothing about baseball. The only teams whose name I can name offhand are the Yankees, the Red Sox and… the Mets."

"So it was just a big waste of time, then."

"No," Morgan said. "I actually quite enjoyed the whole excitement of the game."

"And all the ogling as well, apparently."

**XXX**

"Oh, a photo booth!"

The couple had been walking on the streets when Morgan spotted a photo booth, and proceeded to drag Flack towards it.

"No, no, no…" Flack protested. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

"I don't like smiling in front of a camera…"

Morgan's lips formed into a pout. "Fine," she said bitterly and turned away from him. No matter what Flack said for the next few moments was met with silence.

"Okay, okay. I give up. We'll take the pictures."

Morgan flashed a large smile. "Great! I'll compromise. No one but the both of us will see the pictures, happy?"

"Yes. Now let's get this over with."

The two of them stepped into the booth, and Morgan started off by cuddling Flack while trying to get him to smile.

Flack tried his best to smile; unfortunately it was not working well.

"Come on, Tom Welling has a **_much _**prettier smile than that!" Morgan goaded him on, knowing that her boyfriend was mildly uncomfortable about her constant praises about the actor's good looks.

The next couple of shots comprised of Morgan flashing goofy looks at the camera while Flack thought he looked kind of stupid. He turned to see Morgan enjoying herself and suddenly thought of kissing her. The last shot was coming up and Flack cupped her cheeks in his hands as he crashed his lips into hers in a deep kiss.

The flash went off and Flack drew back from the kiss.

"Wow…" was all an almost-swooning Morgan could utter.

"Let's see Tom Welling beat that," Flack said triumphantly.

They stepped outside the booth and waited for the photo strip to come out. After collecting the photo, Morgan waved it in Flack's face, saying, "See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" She inspected the first shot they took and burst out laughing.

"I told you I hate smiling to the camera," Flack grumbled.

"You look like Chandler trying to smile!" Morgan said, still giggling.

Flack raised an eyebrow. "Chandler?"

"Bing. From the sitcom 'Friends'? There's one episode where he and Monica were taking some pictures and he just couldn't smile properly."

"Oh."

After a little more teasing and laughing, the pair decided to go and grab a bite. However, they couldn't quite decide on where to go. Both threw out suggestions and got rejected by each other. Just when they had just about run out of ideas, Flack suggested going to a pizzeria.

"Ah!" Morgan gasped, "Were you thinking of the one situated a few blocks away from where Aiden lives?"

Flack nodded.

"Good idea, Aiden took me there once, I love the pizza there," Morgan said.

Flack's car had just pulled up on the street opposite the pizzeria when Morgan jumped out of the car before he could even pull the key out of the ignition. He watched as she ran towards someone, and got out of the car to take a closer look.

It was Aiden.

"I haven't seen you in such a long time!" Morgan said as she enveloped Aiden in a tight hug. The girls pulled away from each other as they chatted for a few moments. Aiden enquired about Louie's condition, to which Morgan replied with a slight shake of her head.

"Ahem. Aren't you forgetting about someone here?" Flack said, coming up from behind.

"How could we forget you?" Aiden said as they gave each other a friendly hug. "What are you guys doing in this area?" she asked.

"We were just going to have some pizza," Flack said. "You wanna join us?"

"Oh, I'd love to, but I have something I need to do right now," Aiden said.

Morgan flashed a disappointed look. "How about we have dinner this weekend?" Aiden added. "You, me, Don and Danny."

"Sure! That sounds good." Morgan answered.

Aiden glanced at her watch. "Look, I have to go. I'll call you tomorrow to discuss dinner plans, alright?" she said as she gave Morgan another hug.

"You'd better call me, or else," Morgan warned good-naturedly.

Morgan and Flack waved goodbye to Aiden as she left. Entering the pizzeria, they managed to find an empty table and sat down to place their orders. While waiting on their pizza, the pair discussed the brief meeting with Aiden.

"I wonder what she's busy with these days," Flack said.

"She told me a couple of weeks ago she was working on getting a private investigator license." Morgan said in between sips of water.

When Aiden told her that, Morgan was secretly worried for her friend. She knew that D.J. Pratt was still at large, and given Aiden's stubborn nature, she would not let go of the past that easily. There were a few times since Aiden found out that D.J. Pratt had raped, and killed, another woman that she would ask Morgan about the progress of that case.

She tried to sound just a little curious about it, but Morgan knew that Aiden wasn't the type to just ask out of curiosity.

"And now she's going for a PI license, what do you make of it?" Morgan asked Flack.

"You think she's going to try and track him down herself?"

That thought had crossed Morgan's mind, but she did not bring that up with Aiden, because she felt that Aiden probably knew what she was doing and that she would be able to handle things properly.

**XXX**

Danny arrived back at his apartment building in the late evening, and as he neared his own unit he could hear laughing coming from inside. Danny recognized the laughter as his sister's and muttered, "Probably watching one of those stupid sitcoms again."

He stuck his keys back into his pocket because he did not need them since Morgan was already home, and proceeded to open the front door of his apartment.

"Hey, you're back," said Morgan. She was huddled on the couch together with Flack, both their feet propped up on the coffee table. "We got some pizza for you, from the place near Aiden's," she added.

"Oh, that's great. I was gettin' hungry," Danny said as he strolled to the kitchen and grabbed a slice of pizza from the box that was sitting on the table.

"So what were you guys watching? I heard Morgan laughing," Danny said in between bites as he made his way back into the living room.

"NCIS. She loves the show, says it has the perfect balance of drama and comedy," Flack replied.

"Ah, yes. She keeps telling how hot that Italian guy is," Danny said.

"Really? For some strange reason, she thinks **_that _**guy is good-looking too," said Flack as he pointed to the character on screen named Gibbs.

"What? Morgan, seriously, that old guy?" Danny questioned.

"You got a problem with that? I'm sure you would like to look **_that _**good at his age," Morgan replied.

After the usual sibling bickering died down, Morgan told Danny about their encounter with Aiden earlier and told him to free up his weekend for dinner with her. "She's going to call me tomorrow to discuss where and what to eat," Morgan said.

"Ask her to make her fabulous chicken parm," Danny said eagerly.

**XXX**

By afternoon the next day, Aiden still had not called, so Morgan decided to give her a call during her lunch break. There was no answer on her cell phone, so Morgan left Aiden a voice message. "Oh, and Danny asked if you could make your fabulous chicken parm," Morgan said at the end of the message.

"Hey," said Hawkes, popping his head into the break room. "Care to join me in A/V for some work?"

Together with Stella and Lindsay, Hawkes had arrived at a crime scene in an alley earlier. A female body was found in a burnt Cadillac, and her identity was yet to be confirmed. She was beaten to death and the killer proceeded to torch the car. Stella and Lindsay were going to work on the car, and Hawkes had the job to giving the victim a face.

He had just finished doing a rough sketch of the victim's facial profile and was going to use the FastSCAN software to further enhance the image. Hawkes would do the scanning of the skull while Morgan would work on the computer.

"Who would do such a thing to a woman?" Morgan remarked after hearing about what brought about the female Jane Doe's demise.

Hawkes finished scanning the skull and Morgan pressed a few keys on the keyboard to bring up the image on the computer screen. From there, the software took over and began to construct a face, starting from the chin. Jane Doe's features slowly began to form, and Morgan felt that she looked strangely familiar. She began to feel a little weird, and her chest tightened a little.

Moments later, the facial reconstruction of the victim was complete. Both Hawkes and Morgan could not believe their eyes.

"No… this can't be right. We've got to run it through again," Morgan said in a shaky voice. Hawkes nodded, and they started the procedure from the beginning once more. While Hawkes was scanning the skull for the second time, Morgan glanced toward her cell phone, which was sitting just next to the computer keyboard. She remembered how her phone call to Aiden earlier went answered, and began to fear for the worst.

The scanning was done and Morgan brought the image up on the screen. Once again, the facial reconstruction showed a familiar face.

There was no denying it.

"It's Aiden…"

* * *


	33. The Hunter, Hunted

**33: The Hunter, Hunted**

"It's Aiden…" Hawkes said softly. Morgan was in front of him and had her back toward him. He could see her shoulders quivering slightly.

Hawkes was about to say something to her when Morgan stood up abruptly and ran out of the room. He stood and stared at the image of Aiden on screen for a few moments and left to get Mac.

"That's a sketch of the female victim from the burnt Cadillac," Hawkes said to Mac, after both had arrived back in the A/V lab. He pulled up the image of his sketch. "This is the FastSCAN image of the face," he said as he pulled up the image of the facial reconstruction.

Hawkes, too, did not want to believe that the victim could be Aiden.

"FastSCAN is a digital representation; the resulting facial reconstruction isn't a 100 percent accurate," said Mac.

Hawkes wished that in their case, the facial reconstruction was way off the mark. But he matched the scale photo of the skull to a photo of Aiden pulled from the official NYPD file. There was no mistake.

"It's her, Mac."

Nobody wanted it to be true.

Stella and Danny were called into the A/V lab as Hawkes did another confirmation, but really, there was already no doubt that the burnt body in the Cadillac was indeed Aiden.

"We're going to get the son-of-a-bitch who did this," an upset but determined Stella said, as Danny lowered his head and walked out without a word.

After leaving the A/V lab, Danny went around looking for his sister. He was worried for Morgan. Even though it would be the second time the siblings have had to deal with the death of someone close to them, Morgan was too young at the time of their mother's death to really feel the pain of losing her.

This time was different. He knew how Morgan looked up to Aiden like an older sister, and the girls had just met each other the day before.

Danny was about to look around for Morgan when he got the news that the registered owner of the Cadillac had been hauled into Interrogation. He rushed over to the precinct just as Mac and Stella were done with their interrogation.

"Mac, is this him? Is this the scumbag that killed Aiden!"

Danny tried to barge into the room, but Mac held him back.

"I will get him to crack, I promise you that!" he growled.

"How? By tuning him up!"

Mac would not allow anything to go wrong during the investigation. Aiden was one of their own; she had been under him for the last few years. He was going to make sure that whatever evidence or whichever suspect they had, that they would stick.

"We do this one by the book, understand?" Mac urged Danny to get back on track, and to continue working on the Marine case.

It was also Fleet Week, and there were Marine demonstrations in Central Park. A Marine Corporal was found stabbed to death with no apparent defense wounds.

**XXX**

Lindsay, on receiving a call from Danny, resumed the search for Morgan, who was found in a darkened corner of the locker room. She was sitting on the bench with her feet up on the seat and hugging her knees.

"Morgan…"

Without taking her eyes off some obscure spot on the wall she was facing, Morgan replied, "Leave me alone."

Lindsay had known the Messer siblings long enough to understand that stubbornness ran in the family, so she knew Morgan wasn't likely to budge anytime soon.

"Um, I'm here if you need someone to talk to okay?" Lindsay said.

She couldn't be sure, but Lindsay thought she saw Morgan nod slightly.

Lindsay had never met Aiden, but she knew quite a bit about her, as much as she could without ever having actually met Aiden in person. Sometimes Danny or Morgan would talk about her, and sometimes Lindsay would ask about her predecessor.

Lindsay could gather from what little she knew that Aiden was passionate about her job and loyal to her friends.

Joining Hawkes in the Trace lab, Lindsay asked, "How well did you know Aiden?"

"Well enough to know that if one of us was killed, she wouldn't sleep until the killer was caught," Hawkes said grimly.

**XXX**

The elevator doors opened and out came Flack. He too, had received the news about Aiden. No one saw it coming, especially Morgan and Flack who had just seen her the day before. Shock, anger and sadness ran through his veins, but he had to stay focused because he was still working on the Marine case with Danny. He had some information about the victim, Corporal Trevor Price that he was going to share with Danny.

But first, he wanted to see how Morgan was doing.

Flack approached Stella, who told him that Morgan had been hiding in the locker room ever since it was confirmed that the burnt body was Aiden. Both she and Lindsay tried to talk to her, but Morgan wasn't in the mood to speak to anyone.

When Flack went into the locker room, Morgan was still sitting on the bench, at the same spot Lindsay left her in, only now she had her feet down and staring at her hands on her lap.

Still in a daze, Morgan hadn't realized at all that Flack had entered the locker room. He stood over her for a moment, and she looked up to acknowledge his presence.

Flack sat down next to Morgan and put his arms around her shoulders.

Morgan said nothing. She leaned in close to him as she buried her face in his chest, sobbing softly. Flack wrapped one arm around her and used the other hand to stroke her hair gently.

They sat like that, in silence, for a few minutes until Flack got a page from Danny asking where he was. He reluctantly tore himself away from Morgan and went to the Trace lab where Danny was.

The moment he walked into Trace, Danny asked Flack if he had heard anything new about Aiden's case. "Nothin' much, just… rumors," Flack said.

"Is she still in the locker room?" Danny asked, obviously referring to his sister. Flack nodded.

Danny hadn't seen Morgan since he saw the facial reconstruction of Aiden's remains. Truth be told, he did not know what to say to her that could possibly make her feel better. Also, Danny could not stand to see his sister cry.

He was having a hard enough time focusing on his own case as it is.

"Yeah," Flack said. "She couldn't stop crying."

**XXX**

Meanwhile, Mac and Stella were on their way to Aiden's apartment, hoping to find more clues as to what she had been doing since she got fired from the crime lab.

Stella had bumped into Aiden in the streets just a week before. She too, was informed of Aiden's intention of getting a PI license. Stella regretted not taking the initiative to keep in closer touch with Aiden.

"We have no idea of what was going on in her life," Stella said.

She had spoken briefly with Danny earlier, but he could not provide Stella with more information about Aiden's life after she left CSI, at least nothing other than what they already knew. All he knew was that Aiden was working on something, but she did not tell Danny what it was about.

Mac and Stella were about to find out.

They arrived at Aiden's apartment. The place was kept neat, and on a nearby shelf laid pictures of Aiden and the people close to her such as her family. There were also a couple of pictures of Aiden with Morgan and Danny.

Going through the apartment as if it were any other crime scene, Mac and Stella checked every nook and cranny of the place. Stella went into Aiden's bedroom and made a big discovery.

Aiden had converted a part of her bedroom into a mini-crime lab of sorts.

There were test-tubes and a microscope on the table, and the walls were plastered with photos – pictures that Aiden had taken of D.J. Pratt.

It dawned on the two CSIs that Aiden was the one who had been keeping tabs on Pratt. Some time earlier, Pratt's lawyer threatened Mac with a lawsuit because Pratt had complained that someone from the NYPD was following him around.

At the time, Mac told the lawyer that he did not assign surveillance on Pratt. Now he understood that it was Aiden, trying to work her own investigation.

Their instincts told them that it was highly likely that D.J. Pratt killed Aiden, if he had found out that she was following him, he probably would've wanted to deal with Aiden in his own way. After all, he was capable of not only rape but also murder. What's to say that he wouldn't harm Aiden just to get her off his back?

"What if the hunter became the hunted?" Stella said. It was not a stretch to think that Pratt would turn the tables on Aiden.

Their next step was to track D.J. Pratt down. They found him outside an apartment building, in the middle of a painting job.

Expectedly, he denied killing anybody or stealing a car. Pratt was also quick to cry harassment, however Mac and Stella both knew without a doubt that Pratt was the murderer but unfortunately the evidence against him was still too thin to haul him into Interrogation.

While Mac returned his focus on the Marine case with Danny, Stella went back to work on the burnt Cadillac with Lindsay. There was a small breakthrough – a paint-speckled tool had been used to pop the ignition. Trace results came back as a match to the paint that was used in the apartment that Pratt was painting; but the color Navajo White was just far too common for it to tie Pratt to the case.

**XXX**

"Morgan."

Danny, having wrapped his case, found her sitting in her chair at the A/V lab.

"I'm fine, just leave me alone." Her voice still sounded a little shaky.

Danny approached, pulled up another chair and sat down next to her.

"Why don't you go home?"

Morgan didn't want to. She knew that the CSIs had their sights on D.J. Pratt, and she wanted to be around for the news when they finally nailed him. Besides, she didn't know what she would do if she was left alone at home.

"No, I'm staying here," she said.

"Morgan, you're not doing anything by staying here."

"Yeah, I know. I'm useless compared to you guys. I can't even help find her killer.

Knowing that it was right for her to feel that way, Danny said nothing. He had never been good with words during moments like these. He was afraid that he would only make her feel worse if he said anything more.

Plus, he was also trying very hard to keep his own emotions in check.

Danny stood up and gave Morgan a squeeze on her shoulder. He was about to exit the A/V lab when Stella came running in.

"We got him," was all she said.

Mac and Stella realized that Pratt was aware that Aiden was tailing him, and used a blonde that lived in the apartment he was painting as his potential – but fake – target.

Aiden made a choice to try and stop him from raping another woman, and that choice was what got her in harm's way.

Pratt lured Aiden into that alley on the pretense of following that blonde woman, when in fact he was planning to deal with Aiden in his own way.

Mac got D.J. Pratt hauled in on an unpaid parking ticket. The still-arrogant felon would not talk, preferring to wait for his lawyer to arrive. However, that was not necessary. They didn't need him to say anything. Mac and the team had all they needed to convict Pratt of murder, with the help of Aiden.

When Pratt attacked Aiden in the Cadillac, she had pressed his ear against the window, knowing that it would be dusted for prints – in this case, ear prints – and that her former colleagues would be able to find it. She also bit him on the forearm, and left a bite mark on the armrest of the car so that the CSIs would be able to match them up.

Aiden did all this because she knew she wouldn't be able to survive. She was counting on Mac and the others to find the clues she left behind, and she fought Pratt to the last moment.

"He's going down for murder," Stella said.

Morgan felt her eyes water, and tears came flowing down her cheeks as Danny pulled his sister into his arms.

"I miss her," Morgan said in between sobs.

"Me too," Danny said. "Me too."

**XXX**

That night, the whole team including Morgan and Lindsay gathered at Sullivan's in memory of Aiden, but with the exception of Mac who had yet to arrive. They agreed that they would only talk about the happy things and that no one was supposed to cry.

Even Morgan was smiling, but that was because she was a little drunk, and she was always happy whenever she got drunk.

Danny began telling a story about a time when Aiden shot him down just because he said that she looked nice one night when she got all dressed up for a date after work.

"You're cute Messer, but you're way out of my league," Aiden had said.

The gang burst out laughing as Danny chuckled at the memory, while Morgan couldn't stop giggling after that. He snatched the bottle of beer from his sister's hand and told her that she should stop drinking.

"Hey! I only had half a bottle okay?"

"And apparently that's quite enough for you," Danny said.

"No, it's not," Morgan said as she reached across the table and took back the bottle of beer from Danny's hands.

Danny was about to reach across to snatch it back when Flack held out a hand to stop him. "Just let her be, for once," he said.

"Fine," Danny conceded. "But you're going to carry her home if she passes out."

"Hey, Don?" Morgan said. "Why don't you tell them about the time when Aiden teased you for not having the guts to ask me out?"

All eyes were trained on Flack. "She told you about that?" He said to Morgan.

"Yep," Morgan said cheerily. "She even told me how she pretended to drop her pen that time and took the opportunity to push you towards me," she said with a giggle.

"So Flack, what exactly happened?" Stella asked. "Did you ask her out eventually?"

Flack's cheeks began to turn beet-red.

"No, he didn't," Morgan interrupted. She was by now fairly tipsy, and was almost hanging off Flack's arm to keep her from swaying too much.

"Not on that day anyway. In fact, I think I was the one who asked **_him _**out on a date first. Well, it wasn't exactly a date, but still…"

Flack groaned. He felt as if he'd lost all dignity.

"Please don't ever get drunk again Morgan," Danny and Flack said at the same time.

Soon after, Mac arrived. "Did I miss anything?" he asked. "Yeah, you missed quite a lot," Stella replied, as Hawkes handed a mug of beer he had just poured from the pitcher to Mac.

Everyone, including Morgan who had managed to stop smiling and giggling for a minute, raised their glasses for a toast.

"To Aiden."


	34. One Last Look

_A little lacking in reviews lately...where are you guys? Anyway, here's a new chapter! Please leave some reviews to let me know how it was. Thanks for reading! Btw, I'm no M.E. assistant so I have no idea how the process of releasing victim's bodies to their families works so I'm sort of riding blind here, hoping to make it even just a little plausible. Heh. But I'm absolutely sure there's some paperwork involved, so that's something!_

**34: One Last Look**

The next day, Morgan sat in the break room during lunch hour massaging her temples. She'd woken up with a massive hangover that morning, the result of having one too many drinks the night before.

"Just got in?" It was Stella. She went over to the refrigerator for a bottle of water and sat down next to Morgan.

"I was expecting you to take the day off," Stella said.

Morgan flashed her a tired smile. "I felt that coming into work was better than staring at the four walls at home,"

**XXX**

The night before, Morgan rode in Flack's car and passed out as soon as she got into the vehicle; Danny dropped Lindsay and Hawkes off at nearby subway stations in his own car. Both men drank less than five mugs of beer between them as they knew they would have to drive people home.

She was practically carried into the apartment by Flack. He gently set her down onto the couch, Morgan had no idea she was already home. Danny had told Flack not to leave till he got back, so he sat himself down on the couch next to Morgan.

Flack stroked Morgan's hair, and gently tucked a lock of stray hair behind her ear. She stirred slightly, and opened her eyes. Flack put an arm around her shoulders and she snuggled into his embrace. He looked down at her to find she had drifted off to sleep within mere seconds.

Flack smiled to himself ruefully and kissed her hair.

Danny returned home later to find him still in the exact same spot on the couch, holding a still-sleeping Morgan. Flack himself was barely awake.

"Hey," Danny whispered, not wanting to wake Morgan up.

Flack's eyes flew open.

"Let's get her into her room," Danny said, still whispering.

Flack shifted his almost-numb arm and wrapped it around Morgan's back and she barely stirred. His other arm went under her knees and he easily lifted her petite frame off the couch.

**XXX**

"I didn't do anything embarrassing last night, did I?" Morgan asked.

According to her friends and Danny, she tended to get a little loopy when drunk, like laughing for no apparent reason. And, once she started she was nearly unstoppable.

"Hmm," Stella said as her eyes rolled upwards. "Not really, but you did get very giggly."

Morgan heaved a sigh of relief. "That's nice to hear," she said, and both women chuckled slightly.

"Oof," Morgan winced. She had almost forgotten about the throbbing in her temples. Stella touched her shoulder and asked if she needed painkillers. "Oh yes, please."

Stella left the break room and was back in a couple of minutes with painkillers in hand. "Here," she said, handing two pills and a glass of water to Morgan.

A soft rustling sound was heard and both of them turned towards the direction of the sound.

"Ah. Looks like your knight in shining armor's here," Stella said, giving Morgan a wink.

Stella waved Flack over. "I bought us lunch," the latter said.

Just then, Stella's cell phone beeped. "Lab results," she said as she exited the break room.

"So what did you get?" Morgan said tiredly.

Flack gave her the once-over, asking, "Are you okay?"

"No. Now I know what Danny meant the last time he got dead drunk."

Flack raised a curious eyebrow. "What?"

"Said it was like a conga band pounding away. He was right."

Flack flashed an amused smile. "And I probably look terrible too," Morgan added.

Flack rubbed her cheek affectionately. "Nah. You still look beautiful with the puffy eyes," he said. He removed a piping hot mocha latte from one of the brown paper bags he was holding. "Here."

Morgan took the cup from him and took a long sniff of the beverage.

"What's in the other bag?" she asked. He held it open as she looked inside. "Ah, is that the chicken parmesan sandwich thing from Subway?"

Flack nodded as he handed it to Morgan. She undid the wrapper, bit off a chunk of sandwich and put it down on the table.

Morgan was reminded of Aiden. She loved to make the chicken parm dish, something that Danny loved just as much.

"Danny always said that Aiden made a great chicken parm," she said softly.

"Morgan…" Flack started to say, but his cell phone beeped. It was Dispatch, calling him to report to a crime scene. "I have to go," he said to Morgan, who had started to stare into space.

"Huh? Oh. Okay," she said distractedly.

Flack picked up his cup of coffee and got up to go over to Morgan's side. Seeing that no one else was in the break room, he leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure. Of course."

**XXX**

The painkillers had begun to take effect. The conga band had stopped pounding away, and that put Morgan in a better mood. It wasn't much, but she was less grouchy and moody.

The sandwich Flack had brought remained uneaten, save for the small chunk she had bitten off earlier.

Morgan had been at the crime lab for a couple of hours and she had done nothing but stare into space in the break room. Just then, she saw a man walk past. Morgan thought that the man looked vaguely familiar. She strained her neck and watched him go by, trying to recall where she'd seen him before.

The man was in his fifties with a stocky build. He was slightly balding and had a small paunch, but looked quite fit.

The man was Aiden's father, Vincent Burn. He had come to see Mac; the latter had called him the night before to inform him that NYPD had caught his daughter's killer.

Morgan walked out of the break room, hands in the pockets of her lab coat. She saw the man walk into the direction of Mac's office and unknowingly did likewise. He turned left, so did she. Morgan caught a glimpse of his profile and suddenly realized she was looking at Aiden's father.

She had visited Aiden's apartment a long while ago, when she was still working at the lab. Aiden had pictures of her family framed up around her apartment.

Morgan saw him go into Mac's office and the two men shook hands somberly. They talked for a while, and Morgan stood outside for the duration. The two men stood up and shook hands again, signaling the end of their meeting. Mac stepped in front of Aiden's father and opened the door for him. They both stepped out of the office and Mac spotted Morgan standing nearby.

"Morgan," Mac said, signaling her to go over to them.

"Mr. Burn," she said, extending a handshake. Vincent returned the handshake and stared intently at Morgan's face for a few seconds.

"Are you… Morgan?" he asked. She nodded. "Aiden talks… talked about you and your brother often," he said. Vincent had the same distinct New York accent that Aiden had.

Mac's office phone started ringing. "Morgan, could you see Mr. Burn out please?" he said as he sprinted back into the room.

"This way," Morgan said, motioning for Vincent to follow her.

They walked in silence for a bit. Morgan did not know what to say to him, and he probably had enough on his mind already.

"You and Aiden were close," Vincent said. He didn't say it as a question as he knew for a fact that they were.

Morgan nodded. "She was like an older sister to me," she said sadly as Vincent gave her a fatherly pat on the shoulder.

"How's Mrs. Burn doing?"

"She fainted from the shock when we told her the news yesterday…"

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Burn," Morgan said, and Vincent smiled ruefully at her.

She asked where he was headed, and he told her that he needed to make a stop at the Medical Examiner's Office. There was some paperwork he needed to sign off on for the release of Aiden's remains.

"Do you need me to come with you?"

"Thanks, Morgan. But I don't want to keep you from your work."

After reassuring Vincent that he wasn't keeping her from anything, he agreed to let Morgan come along with him.

**XXX**

They arrived at the Medical Examiner's Office after a short elevator trip. Morgan looked around cluelessly as it was her first time there, understandable since she was a tech in the A/V lab. Just then she saw someone she recognized. "Dr. Pino," she called, and the handsome young M.E. turned around.

"Morgan?" She was surprised he even remembered her name. "What are you doing down here? And please, call me Marty," he said with a charming smile.

Gesturing to Vincent, she explained their purpose in coming down. "This is Aiden Burn's father," Morgan said.

Marty, too, had heard about what happened. "My condolences to you, sir," he said solemnly. Marty summoned an assistant to help Vincent fill out the required paperwork and Morgan watched as the assistant led Vincent away.

"I heard you and her were close," Marty enquired as they waited.

"How did you know?"

"Dead bodies aren't the only ones who talk to us down here, you know," Marty said.

Morgan smiled.

"See, that's better," he said.

"What's better?" Morgan asked. Marty answered, "Your smile."

She smiled nervously at him and looked away.

"Don't worry, I'm not trying to hit on you," Marty clarified. "I was just being friendly."

Morgan continued to smile nervously.

Soon after, Vincent and the assistant re-emerged with the paperwork. The assistant handed the papers to Marty for him to sign, and when it was done the papers were divided into two copies, one for the records and one for Vincent.

Marty turned to leave when Vincent stopped him.

"Doctor, I have a request."

Marty nodded for him to go ahead.

"Is it okay if I… if I take a look at my daughter?"

Morgan and even Marty looked at Vincent with wide, surprised eyes.

"Sir, I don't think it's a good idea. Your daughter –"

"I know," Vincent said, cutting Marty off. "Detective Taylor has told me about the state of my daughter's… remains."

"Mr. Burn, are you sure about this?" Morgan asked.

Vincent's voice cracked a little. "I just want to take a last look at my little girl…"

Marty hesitated for a while. "I have to warn you, sir, that it would probably be better if you didn't see your daughter's remains."

Morgan had thumbed through the autopsy photos of Aiden's remains the day before while working on the FastSCAN facial reconstruction with Hawkes, at the time she still didn't know the remains belonged to Aiden.

Seeing Vincent so determined, Marty could not deny the man's request.

"Morgan, maybe you should wait out here," he said to her.

There was still a small part of Morgan that was still in denial about Aiden's death. A part of her that felt that there was no way that the charred female body was once Aiden.

"No, I'm going in with him," she said.

Marty pulled her aside. "Are you sure?" Morgan nodded.

Marty led Morgan and Vincent into the morgue. The first thing Morgan noticed was the temperature – it was considerably lower than usual air-conditioned rooms.

They stood in front one of the autopsy drawers. "When you're ready," Marty said.

After a few moments, Vincent nodded to Marty, who proceeded to slowly pull open the drawer.

In front of them lay the charred remains of Aiden. Morgan heard Vincent choke up. She had had her eyes closed since before Marty pulled open the drawer, and was now starting to slowly open them.

"Oh my God," Morgan gasped.

It was the remains as in the autopsy photos, but a name made all the difference.

When Morgan saw the pictures, the remains were still identified as Jane Doe – not Aiden Burn.

She turned away. Vincent was mumbling silently to himself.

Marty decided that it was time to close the drawer.

"Your daughter's remains will be transported to the funeral home of your choice," he said, his voice filled with professionalism, and not at all like the rumored Casanova that people said he was.

Vincent and Marty shook hands.

"Thank you, doctor."

"Take care, sir."

Morgan and Vincent walked to the elevator.

"I'll call you when we've made all the necessary arrangements," Vincent said.

Morgan's cell phone beeped. It was Mac, summoning her back to the lab.

"I have to go."

Vincent nodded. "You take care, Morgan."

"You too, Mr. Burn." They shook hands. The elevator arrived, and Morgan let him take it down to the ground floor first. "Bye," she said.

Vincent patted her shoulder as he left.

"Tell your brother I said hello."


	35. Things Fall Apart

_**Disclaimer: **CSI NY and all its characters belong to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions. Only the character of Morgan Messer is mine. )_

_**Spoilers/ Episode References: **#2.24 - "Charge of this Post"._

**35: THINGS FALL APART**

"Damn!" Morgan slammed her fists onto the keyboard, and Adam jumped about two inches into the air. "I just can't get it to work!"

She had met with a glitch in the computer at the A/V lab, and Adam was helping to figure out the problem while trying to keep Morgan from going berserk out of frustration. "Well, it wouldn't help even if you kept smacking the thing," Adam commented. He knew it was the wrong thing to say the moment the words came out of his mouth.

"Sorry," he said with a grimace, half-expecting Morgan to smack him instead while saying, _"How about I smack you to make you shut up?"_

If there was one thing that Adam learnt from being around the Messer siblings, it was that they not only resembled each other in terms of looks, but in temper as well. He knew better than to step on either of their toes when their faces looked as grim as the Grim Reaper.

"I wasn't going to smack you, Adam." The nervous lab tech heaved a sigh of relief.

"Why don't you take a break?" Adam suggested. "I can handle this."

Morgan placed her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you."

It was a little over a week since Aiden's death, and her funeral service and burial was held just a couple of days ago. In attendance were Aiden's family – her parents and brothers, the whole CSI team, Morgan and a handful of other relatives and friends. It was a simple affair.

Both Aiden's father and Mac spoke briefly in memory of Aiden as Morgan tried to hold back her tears. Luckily, Flack was there with her for emotional support.

Danny barely spoke two words throughout the day.

Flack stopped by the lab for an update on the evidence for a case he was working on. After Stella reported the lab results to him, Flack headed for the A/V lab. He was worried about Morgan, who had become withdrawn since Aiden's body was found. Danny on the other hand, had been in a permanently foul mood ever since.

"Uh, Morgan's in the break room," Adam said as Flack walked into A/V.

Flack found her staring idly at a can of Coke in her hands. "You gonna drink that? 'Cause if you're not I am."

Morgan looked up. "Hey,"

Flack took the can from her hands and opened it. "You can have it, Don."

He noticed that Morgan had taken to calling him "Don" since a couple of weeks ago. He was about to ask if she was okay, but decided not to. Flack knew exactly what answer she was going to give.

He put on a smile. "Why don't we go to a movie tonight?" Morgan shook her head. "Come on. Didn't we talk about going to see Superman Returns?"

"Nah… I just want to go home after work and not do anything."

All he wanted was to try and get Morgan's mind off all the unhappiness.

"Okay, why don't we get takeout, rent a movie and spend the evening at your place?"

Morgan's reply came out a little too harsh. "I'm just not in the mood for any of this, okay?"

"How long do you intend to be like this, Morgan?" He said with an exasperated sigh.

Flack realized he sounded insensitive. "Sorry, didn't mean for it to come out like that."

"I'm sorry, Don. But I'm not you," Morgan snapped. "What are you getting at, Morgan?"

"Aiden's been buried for barely a week and already you're acting like nothing's happened," she said. "It was 'just another case' for you, huh?" Morgan made the apostrophe sign with her fingers for emphasis.

"What, are you saying that I don't care about Aiden?"

"It sure looks like it."

"I've known Aiden longer than you have, why wouldn't I care about her?"

"Then why are you acting so…normal?"

"What, you want me to cry?" Flack couldn't help but make that snide remark.

"I can't believe you just said that." Morgan was genuinely hurt.

Part of her knew she was being a tad irrational. The other part of her couldn't help but be confrontational. Morgan felt a defiant streak coming through; she was not going to back down until she got the last word or until either of them walked out.

"Danny and the both of us were the closest to Aiden. Look at my brother, Adam is afraid to even go talk to him now; and me? I abuse my computer at work and I have trouble sleeping at night," Morgan said.

"What about you?" She gestured to Flack with her outstretched palm.

"Don't think I'm not affected by her death. We all are," Flack pointed his finger at her.

Before Morgan could come up with a retort, Flack's cell phone sounded. He spoke briefly with the person on the other end of the line and hung up.

Flack stood up from the table, but did not move to leave.

"What are you waiting for?" Morgan said. "I don't want to keep you from your work," she added spitefully.

"Look, can we not end this conversation on such a note?" Flack pleaded.

"No." Morgan said simply.

"You're being irrational, you know that?" Flack's voice went up a notch.

"Then why don't you walk out right now?"

"Yeah, guess I will." Flack stalked out of the break room and did not realize that Danny had been standing outside. Morgan stood up, walked over to the trash bin and flung the can of Coke into the bin.

She sensed a pair of eyes trained on her and turned around to face her brother, who was leaning against the door. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Right around the part Flack asked if you wanted him to cry. But I swear, I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

Danny stuck his hands into his pockets and approached his sister. He was about to talk when Morgan spoke first.

"One word from you and that can of Coke I just dumped is going right for your face," Morgan said as she brushed past him and left the break room.

"Touché," Danny said to nobody in particular.

**XXX**

"What?" Morgan barked into her cell phone.

"I'm sorry; did I get you at a bad time?"

It was a friend of Morgan's from college, Kim. She had recently moved into a new apartment in the West Village. Petite and blonde, she had a pixie haircut which matched her spontaneous and fun-loving personality perfectly.

A couple of weeks ago, she had called up Morgan to tell her about the move, and her intention to hang out some day.

Morgan had originally agreed to drop by the next day, a Sunday.

"Oh, no. Sorry, I didn't mean to be so rude. So, what's up?"

Kim was calling to see if the plan was still for Morgan to drop by the next day. Being in such a terrible mood, she had the urge to turn her friend down, but the two friends hadn't seen each other in months, so Morgan couldn't bear to.

"Great! And you know what? I just found out that we're having a block party tomorrow, this is going to be fun," Kim said.

"Block party?"

"Yeah. Maybe I'll be able to chat up a guy or two," Kim giggled.

**XXX**

The next day, Morgan dropped by Kim's apartment in the mid-morning and the block party was already in full swing, the whole street bustling with activity and the smell of barbecued food wafted through the air.

The two had managed find a nice spot to sit and talk while sipping drinks.

"Is it just me or do I seem to be boring you?" Kim said.

"What?"

"You seem so distracted, everything okay?"

Morgan did not want to dampen her friend's spirits, so she refrained from telling Kim about Aiden.

"I'll be fine. Let's not ruin the mood by talking about it."

"Come on, I know we haven't seen each other in a long time, but surely you can talk to me?"

Morgan smiled weakly.

"Whatever problems you're going through, I'm guessing that one of them concerns the boyfriend?"

Morgan nodded. "He pissed you off by doing some stupid guy thing?"

"No," she said. "Actually, I think I pissed him off."

Flack hadn't contacted Morgan since they exchanged words at the lab the day before. That night she was waiting for his phone call, even though she had denied it when Danny asked if she was expecting Flack to call.

"And he didn't call you all night?" Kim asked.

"No. I wouldn't blame him though."

"Did you call him, then?" Morgan shook her head.

"Good, you should wait for him to call you."

Morgan raised an eyebrow.

"Trust me, he'll call you soon enough."

Morgan was glad Kim did not prod any further; she did not particularly feel like talking about Aiden, not trusting herself not to cry.

"So, tell me more about your boyfriend," Kim nudged her. "You weren't exactly forthcoming in your last e-mail."

Morgan finally broke into a smile. "Well, he's a cop."

"Really?" Kim broke into a bigger smile. "Like your brother?"

Morgan stared at her friend. "Don't tell me you still have a sort-of crush on my brother."

"What? I happen to think your brother is kind of attractive."

Morgan had brought Kim back home a few times to hang out during college, and introduced her to Danny, and had taken an instant liking to him at the time.

"My brother, attractive?" Morgan said questioningly. "Ugh, I think I'm going to be sick."

"Okay. Just shut your eyes, and try **not** to think of him as your brother for a moment."

Morgan shut her eyes and tried her hardest to visualize Danny not being her brother; would she really find him attractive?

"Nope. It's not working," Morgan said when she opened her eyes. "Okay, forget about your brother."

Kim wanted to know more about Flack. "What is he, a beat cop?"

"No, he's a homicide detective."

"I'm impressed." She asked to see a picture of Flack.

"Alright, alright." Morgan fished out her cell phone, pushed a few buttons and showed it to her friend, who began to gush about how good-looking he was. "He looks like he could be one of those Ralph Lauren models."

Kim happened to look up in the direction of the main street and did a double take. She glanced to the image on Morgan's cell phone and back to a figure near the front of the street. "Am I seeing things?" she muttered.

"What's wrong, Kim?"

Morgan had her back to the street and had no idea what her friend was staring at.

"Speak of the devil," Kim said with a finger pointing to the figure at the front of the street.

Indeed, Kim was not seeing things; it was Flack that she saw.

"You have got to be kidding," Morgan said when she turned around. Squinting into the distance, she saw Flack in his usual work attire and guessed that he must have been in the area on a case.

"Looks like he's looking or waiting for someone?" Kim said. "Does he even know you're here?"

Morgan didn't think so. "Nah. How'd he know where in the Village I'd be?"

**XXX**

Flack was waiting for Lindsay to arrive in her CSI truck. Meanwhile, Mac was in the office building at the front of the street not too far from where Morgan was. A security guard had been stabbed to death in the stairwell of the building.

Being a Sunday, there were few people at work. How Flack envied those people, being able to enjoy a weekend without being interrupted.

Flack had felt uneasy since he had that argument with Morgan the day before. It was, after all, the first time they'd fought. He didn't call her because he did not know exactly what to say.

His first thought was to apologize. Flack had dialed Morgan's number a handful of times the night before, only to refrain from hitting the "send" button each time.

After a bout of thinking, he had felt that he wasn't really at fault at all, although he could have used more restraint and not put on the snark so quickly. He knew that Morgan would have been hurt because of his comment, but he'd felt the same way when she implied that he was unfeeling about Aiden's death.

Flack had spent a good portion of the evening in his apartment sipping beer, flipping through television channels and expecting Morgan to call as well.

**XXX**

"Shall I wave him over?" Kim said, her arm almost half-raised. Morgan grabbed her arm. "No!"

By the time their mini-scuffle was over, Flack had disappeared from their sights.

Lindsay had arrived, but her truck was unable to get through the crowd of people so she had to park it further away. Flack walked over to where she was.

Going past all the people, Lindsay couldn't help but ask what was with the crowd and the partying. "It's quite a shindig."

"Sunday block parties. Spring time in New York City," Flack replied.

"Right in the middle of the street, huh?" Lindsay was greatly amused.

"What do they have up in Montana?"

"Wyoming," Lindsay offered.

They walked back down the street. "So…what was up with you and Morgan yesterday?" Lindsay asked. She wasn't going to say anything, but she thought Flack looked "okay" enough.

Flack threw her a look. "I didn't realize that you knew what happened."

"Actually, it's not just me."

The both of them walked right past the building where Kim and Morgan were without even noticing.

"What, does the whole lab know?"

"The walls in the lab **are **made of glass, you know. And you weren't exactly whispering."

"Great."

The two girls watched as Lindsay and Flack went by. "Morgan, you have got to educate your boyfriend on how to choose a nice tie," Kim commented, not a big fan of Flack's taste in ties.

"Well, at least he had the sense to wear a solid-colored shirt with a striped tie instead of striped tie with striped shirt," she added.

**XXX**

About 15 minutes later, Kim was off chatting up some guy who lived two floors up from her while Morgan people-watched. She saw a guy in his late teens sneaking glances at her and ignored him completely.

Suddenly, there were people running down the street where she was, in a state of total panic. Some people were screaming and some even tripped in their haste. Morgan stood up to help a woman who had nearly fallen.

"What's going on? Why is everybody running away?" She asked.

The woman shocked Morgan by saying a female cop had frantically asked them to clear the area and make for the far end of the street.

"I heard someone say it could be a bomb!" The woman was getting distraught.

Not too long ago, there was a man who blew up the apartment building he owned just so he didn't have to sell it and share the money with his ex-wife. Perhaps someone was trying to pull the same stunt.

Morgan froze. _Female cop? _Her brain was telling her Lindsay wasn't the only female cop around, but her gut was telling her that it had to be her. And Flack could still be in there.

Without even thinking, she ran in towards the office building.

"Morgan, where are you going! It could be dangerous!" Kim yelled, but she was already out of earshot.

Morgan ran as fast as she could, going against the crowd of people running for their lives. Deep down she knew that it was dangerous for her to be running in the direction of a building which possibly had a bomb in it, but at that moment she couldn't think straight.

All she could think about was the friend she had just lost; Morgan felt sick to the stomach at the thought of another friend and the man she loved being in danger – she had yet to know that Mac was in there as well.

Before Morgan could even get close to the building, she was pushed to the ground by a group of running, frantic women. They were part of the employees who had been evacuated out of the building by Mac and Flack.

It turned out to be a blessing, for seconds later; a deafening blast erupted from the building. If Morgan had not been inadvertently delayed by those women, she probably would have been close enough to the building to cause serious injury.

Kim witnessed the explosion from where she was with her heart in her throat.

"Oh God. Her brother is going to kill me if anything happens to her."

Keep the reviews coming, please! Hope y'all liked this chapter.


	36. Chaos

_100 reviews! Didn't expect to reach that number at all. I'm sorry for disappearing for a whole month, I'm not gonna give any excuses. I finished this chapter looong ago, but simply forgot to post it up. Sorry! Here's the chapter, and with the premiere of Season 3, I'll have more inspiration and material to continue my story with. Please keep sticking around, thank you for reading!_

_**Disclaimer: **CSI:NY and all its characters belong to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions._

_**Episode Spoilers/References: **#02.24 - "Charge of this Post"_

**36: CHAOS**

For a moment, Morgan could not hear anything but the dull ringing sound in her ears.

Still on the ground, she lifted her head up to survey the surroundings. A cloud of grey smoke and its smell hung in the air. The dust was still settling from all the blast, and broken glass from the windows and other debris littered the street.

After the ringing sound subsided, Morgan could hear people moaning in pain. She looked to her sides to see the women who had knocked her to the ground. They had suffered minor injuries and were able to sit up. They helped Morgan up to a sitting position as well.

It was when Morgan tried to stand up that she realized the pain in her right foot, a sprained ankle probably a result of the fall. Apart from feeling the pain and a little wooziness, she had sustained cuts on her knees and hands from hitting the ground.

Morgan managed to stand up on her feet despite the pain. She looked up at the gutted building and began to limp towards it.

Coughing from the thick smoke as she got nearer to the building, Morgan dug out her cell phone from her jeans pocket. She flipped it open and dialed Flack's number, hoping that it still worked.

"Pick up…pick up, Don!"

Morgan limped around, looking for any sign of Flack or Lindsay. As she waited for an answer, Morgan yelled out for the both of them, hoping that either of them would hear her, if they were within earshot. "Lindsay! Don!"

"If you can hear me, please answer me!"

Morgan was starting to fear the worst. She could hear people moaning and crying in pain.

There was no answer on Flack's phone, so Morgan tried to dial Lindsay's number.

"Hello…?" The voice was soft and weak, but unmistakably belonged to Lindsay.

"Lindsay? Oh thank God! Are you okay? Where are you?"

Lindsay was confused. How did Morgan know what had happened? However at that moment, she didn't have the energy to guess.

"I was going back to my truck when Mac told me about the bomb…"

"Mac was here too? Where are they now?"

Lindsay replied that she couldn't see them from she was. Morgan tried to keep calm and concentrate on finding Lindsay. Morgan took a look around and deduced that Lindsay shouldn't be too far away from her.

She kept her eyes trained on any women who looked like Lindsay, as she tried Flack's number again. No answer.

"Lindsay!" Morgan yelled, as her eyes darted around, looking for the green jacket Lindsay was wearing and found it.

Morgan half-ran, half-limped over to where Lindsay was.

"How did you end up here?" Lindsay asked, as Morgan nearly collapsed in relief.

"Dropped by to see a friend." Morgan's eyes noticed a bleeding wound on Lindsay's forehead and reached out to touch it. "Ow..." Lindsay grimaced.

"Where's Don? Did you see them make it out?" Morgan said.

"I…I don't know. I think they were still inside."

Morgan faltered. "Don didn't make it out?" The pain in her ankle was getting worse. "I called his cell phone…but there was no answer…"

Lindsay helped Morgan to a nearby stoop to sit down as she tried to reassure the near-distraught girl of Flack's safety. It only had a temporary effect on her, and Lindsay had to practically pull her back when Morgan seemed to want to make a break for the building.

"I've got to find him!"

It was lucky that Morgan was smaller in size than Lindsay. She held the younger woman by the shoulders and tried to keep her calm as best as she could.

"What am I going to do? Don's still in there…" Morgan said softly.

Lindsay had thought Morgan would be in tears by now, but so far she had not yet shed a single tear. Lindsay didn't think it was good or strong of her, she'd rather Morgan cry her eyes out than hold it in.

The FDNY firefighters and paramedics had already arrived, along with about a half dozen police squad cars. One paramedic noticed Morgan and Lindsay sitting at the side and asked if they needed help. Lindsay declined, telling him to go help the other injured civilians first.

"What about her? Is she okay?" He looked to Morgan, who had barely acknowledged his presence. She looked to be in a daze. Lindsay pointed Morgan's sprained ankle to the paramedic and he bent down to inspect her foot.

He gently twisted Morgan's foot and asked if she felt any pain. She didn't answer. "Miss, can you hear me?"

Morgan shifted her glance to him. "I'm not deaf."

He went back to treating her foot, and she was more responsive. "We'll need to get some ice on it, and in the meantime I suggest that she not move around too much."

The cuts on her knees and hands were easily taken care of, but Lindsay still refused treatment for the moment, sending him to treat the other injured people.

**XXX**

Stella had just been notified by Dispatch about the explosion and went to get Danny and Hawkes. Just before they were about to pull out of the parking lot in the CSI truck, Danny's cell phone rang. It was Lindsay.

"Montana, you alright?

Lindsay told him about Morgan, which probably turned out to be a mistake because it only made Danny more anxious. "What the hell was she doing there! Is she okay? Was she injured?"

"Danny, calm down. Other than some cuts on her hands and knees and a sprained ankle, she's fine. But I think you'd better get here quick. Flack was still inside when the bomb went off."

Danny didn't need any further explanation. He knew what his sister was probably going through. He very nearly barked at Stella to start driving and remained antsy throughout the drive to the West Village.

The three of them had been caught in a minor jam, and it further depleted Danny's patience, not that he had a lot of that in the first place. "Why don't you put on the lights and race through this damn traffic?"

"Danny, relax. I'm driving as fast as I humanely can in this traffic. Lindsay's with Morgan, she'll be fine," Stella tried to keep a level tone. Danny could be a tad overbearing when it came to what mattered most to him.

"I can probably get us there much faster," Danny grumbled in the backseat.

"Danny, I am not letting you tear through the streets and possibly mow down cars and innocent pedestrians in the process," Stella warned. "Now just calm down, will you."

She heard him flip his cell phone open and press a few buttons. "Damn, she's not answering her phone."

"Hawkes, you wouldn't happen to have a sedative in that kit of yours, would you?" Stella said, gritting her teeth through the rear view mirror. She was just as anxious about Mac and Flack, and Danny was not making things any better.

**XXX**

The vehicle raced to a stop and Danny practically jumped out before Stella could even park the truck properly. He saw Lindsay standing near a car speaking to a couple of police officers. "Montana!"

She was fully immune to that nickname and hardly batted an eyelid when Danny called her that.

"Morgan's over there," Lindsay pointed to the nearby stoop without Danny even asking. He asked about the cut on her forehead, which still hadn't been treated and she brushed it off with a "I'm fine".

Stella and Hawkes arrived behind him and Lindsay updated them on the situation while Danny ran off to check on his sister. "Be right back," he yelled over his shoulder.

Morgan sat on the stoop with her hands in her lap, her gaze following a man who was being wheeled away on a gurney by paramedics. She didn't even notice Danny approaching from the other side.

"Morgan," Danny had to repeat her name a couple more times before she shifted her gaze to him. He cupped her face in his hands and stared into her eyes. "Does your ankle still hurt?"

Morgan shook her head. Someone had just given her ice to soothe the pain.

"Don's still in there…"

"I know…"

"You have to get him out, Danny."

"We will," he said as he embraced his sister tightly to comfort her. "Don't worry, okay? We'll get him out."

"I'm scared…" Morgan said as tears welled up in her eyes, the first sign that she was about to break down. "Look at the building, how could he have–"

"Shut up, don't say that. I said we were going to get him out and we will."

"You have to." Morgan was almost sobbing now.

"Danny, you ready to go?" Hawkes said as he approached from behind with Lindsay. "Yeah, let's go."

He stood up to leave but Morgan still held onto his hand tightly.

"Just sit tight right here, and I'll bring him back out to you, okay?" Danny then asked Lindsay to stay with Morgan, and she agreed.

**XXX**

"Flack!" Mac called as he lifted a large piece of fallen debris off himself. There was no answer, but moments later he heard a voice calling for help. It was the young man, Smith, who Flack had yelled at to "get the hell out of here" just before the bomb went off. He had been pinned under a fallen door.

Mac helped lift the door off Smith and together they searched for Flack.

"Don!" Mac noticed a leg sticking from a pile of rubble and raced over. With Smith's help, he managed to get the debris off of Flack, who was barely conscious and gasping for air. He was covered with blue ink from the copier that had fallen from the floor above them.

Flack was unresponsive. Some debris had become embedded in his wound in the stomach area and he was bleeding profusely due to a torn artery.

This brought back tragic memories for Mac, who had been through a similar situation during his days as a Marine in Beirut. He had been unable to save the young Marine that time, and this time he was going to make sure Flack would not die.

The priority was now to stop the arterial bleeding. Mac asked Smith to remove his shoelace and he used that to tie off the artery and stop the bleeding. As unconventional and unhygienic that it was, if Mac did not do that Flack could very well have bled to death before Search and Rescue could have found them.

Tearing pieces of fabric off his own shirt, Mac stuffed the wound with them to stop the bleeding, as Smith tried to get the attention of Search and Rescue by banging on the walls. He lightly felt Flack's body for any broken bones and noticed a chain with a ring on his neck.

Fingering it, he noticed an inscription on the inside of the ring. "_Stay Safe"_, it said. Mac guessed that it must have been a gift from Morgan. He unclasped the chain and put it in his pocket, lest it got misplaced while the paramedics and ER doctors took Flack's clothes off to work on him later.

He would hold it for safekeeping until he could hand it to Morgan.

"Can anyone hear me?" Smith yelled as he banged on the walls.

Soon enough, the banging sound drew Danny to where they were and the rescue team was quickly sent in to get them out.

Morgan watched as the paramedics pushed a gurney to the entrance of the building. Minutes later, the rescue team emerged with Mac, Flack and Smith. They quickly transferred Flack onto the gurney and loaded him into a waiting ambulance to rush him to Trinity Hospital.

"Morgan, calm down! Let the paramedics do their work, we'll get someone to give you ride over to the hospital in a bit, okay?" Lindsay said when Morgan wanted to rush over to Flack.

Mac headed for the temporary command center set up by the FBI and Homeland Security at a café across the street. He got his wound taken care of as Stella came in to report what findings they had at the moment. She also told him that Morgan was present when the bomb went off.

"Where's she now?"

"Outside. Lindsay's with her, she's fine."

"Good. I'm headed to Trinity Hospital, she can come with me."

**XXX**

Mac and Morgan arrived at the hospital where Flack was already under heavy sedation and about to undergo surgery to remove the debris from the blast embedded in his wound.

"How bad is it? Is he going to make it?" Morgan asked, but the doctor could not be sure at that point of time.

She sat with Mac as they waited for the operation to end. "Morgan," Mac said. He took out the chain from his pocket and handed it to her.

"I believe you gave Flack this?" Morgan nodded. She held it in her hands as she fingered the ring.

"I gave it to him as a good luck charm," she said. "Partly to put my mind at ease while he's out in the field, you know?"

Mac understood. His late wife too, used to worry about him constantly. One could never be fully prepared to face the danger that happens on the job, even how much you psych yourself up that "danger is inevitable".

"I'm scared, Mac."

With his hand on her shoulder, Mac tried to assure that things were going to be okay.

"Don's strong, he can get through this."

"I didn't get to apologize to him..."

"About what?" Mac asked. He was just about one of the only people still in the dark about the fight they had in the lab the day before.

"It's my fault. I said some things that crossed the line. He must be so mad at me."

"I'm sure he isn't," Mac assured her. "It's perfectly normal for two people in love to argue sometimes, but that doesn't mean that any one of you screwed up, it just happens."

"But still," Morgan said. "I still feel like I should apologize for snapping at him."

"Look, I know that this past week has been hard for you, and I'm sure he knows that too."

* * *


	37. Waiting

_Oh dear! I can't say how sorry I am for not updating this story in such a long time!!! My only excuse is that I've had writer's block again, but I've been working on getting the momentum of writing back, really! I have another chapter finished up, so hopefully I should be able to resume at least semi-regular posting again. Hehe. _

_**Spoilers/Episode References: **#2.24 - "Charge of this Post"._

**37: WAITING **

"Can I ask you something, Mac?"

Mac turned to look at Morgan. "What was going through my head when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center?" he said before Morgan could even ask her question.

"Something like that, yeah. How did you know I was going to ask you that?"

Mac said nothing, and only flashed a hint of a smile. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to," said Morgan.

"No, it's okay,"

Mac told her that when he found out the towers had collapsed, it felt like a bad dream. "I didn't want it to be real, I had hoped that it was somehow a bad dream that I would wake up from. But it wasn't."

On that day, he raced over to where Ground Zero now stood. Mac saw the damage done and knew that there was no hope that Claire had survived.

He knew exactly what Morgan was going through at that moment. Before he lost Claire, Mac had to watch that young Marine in Beirut die before his very eyes, and now he was reliving those feelings all over again. Despite reassuring Morgan that Flack would pull through, he wasn't sure of it himself at all.

Both of them sat in silence for a while as they waited for Flack's surgery to end. Neither realized it, but it was probably the longest conversation they have ever had with each other.

Flack was wheeled out of the operation room over an hour later and he was brought into the Intensive Care Unit. Mac asked the doctor if he could go into the ICU and take photographs of Flack's wounds for documentation purposes. He agreed and led Mac off to the room. Morgan intended to follow, but Mac nodded his head slightly as a sign that she should stay. "But Mac..." said Morgan. "Don't worry, he's in good hands," replied Mac.

He walked alongside the doctor and the both of them went off to the ICU where Flack was. Morgan sat back down on the plastic chairs placed along the hospital corridor and clasped her hands tightly together. Her cell phone rang.

"Morgan! Are you okay?" It was Kim.

"I'm fine," Morgan replied weakly.

"You don't sound fine, is something wrong?" Kim gasped. "Did something happen to your boyfriend?"

Morgan didn't answer. "He's...not dead, is he?" Kim asked cautiously.

"No."

"I could go down and sit with you, if you want."

"No, it's okay." Morgan said. "My brother is here with me." That was a lie. Danny was still working at the scene of the explosion. She just didn't want her friend to worry.

**XXX**

While Mac and Morgan were at the hospital keeping vigil, Hawkes and Lindsay returned to the lab to process the evidence they had collected at the scene. Mac would soon join them back at the lab after he had collected the debris extracted from Flack's body during surgery earlier. With the debris and evidence collected along with Mac's account of what happened, Lindsay managed to reconstruct the bombing and ran a stimulation in the A/V lab.

"I would've gotten this done sooner if I had help," Lindsay said, alluding to Morgan's absence. She wasn't griping about it, however, as she knew that even if Morgan was at the lab she probably would not be in the mood to work. "How's Flack doing?"

Mac shook his head. "Still unconscious."

The bomb trigger, a SIM card, was found in the bag of debris removed from Flack's body, embedded in a charred segment of a cell phone. Lindsay is tasked with tracing the card, hoping that it might lead to a potential suspect. Just then, Mac's cell phone rang.

It was a call from the bomber, calling to warn Mac that there would be another bombing at 1600 hours that same day. The phone number was traced, in case that man called again.

Meanwhile, Lindsay teamed up with Danny to run a trace on the SIM card, and pulled up the last call made to that number - that was how the bomb was triggered. To everyone's surprise, the number was a secure line belonging to the Department of Homeland Security.

Mac confronted Agent Ellen Fielding, the person who had made the call. She clarified that she was only following protocol by answering a coded message, and that the laptops in the department containing those codes had recently been stolen. Agent Fielding suggested shutting down secure networks to prevent another bomb detonation in the same manner.

The realization that any person answering a page could potentially set off another bomb was shocking. "It's not about the networks!" Mac said agitatedly. "Anyone can return a page! There are eight million New Yorkers, six million cell phones, any one of which could trigger the next bomb!" Mac warned.

After careful analysis of the suspect's behavior, Mac deduced that he was trying to absolve himself of all responsibility by designing the bomb in such a way that answering a page from him would cause it to go off. He did not consider himself a bomber or a killer. Rather, he was trying to make a statement - why else would he choose to detonate the bomb on a Sunday, when the building would be mostly vacant?

If he had wanted to take lives, he would have chosen a weekday for the bomb to go off and at a time when the casualties would be highest.

In keeping with his promise to keep Morgan in the loop as much as protocol allowed, Mac called her to inform her that they had some leads on the bomber and were working on tracking him down.

"Good...good," Morgan said distractedly.

"How are you holding up?" Mac asked.

Morgan remained silent. "If you want, I can get Danny to go down to the hospital..." Mac said.

"No, it's fine. You need all the help you can get."

Unknown to her, Mac and Danny had managed to track down the bomber's cell phone location to Chelsea University Library. A duffel bag similar to the one at the first bombing scene was found at a payphone within the premises. With Danny watching on nervously, Mac carefully deactivated the bomb by cutting off the wires that connected the bomb trigger and the C-4.

The cell phone that was attached to the bomb rang just after Mac completed the task, congratulating him for leading by example, for not ignoring the bomber's warnings that the city of New York was "not ready".

**XXX**

Morgan sat next to an unconscious Flack, watching his chest rise and fall slowly with each breath he took. She held his hand in hers as she stroked his hair with the other hand.

"Don…"

She remembered those harsh words she said to him the day before. All she wanted then was to be able to apologize to him.

Morgan fished around in her jeans pocket or the chain she had given Flack. She pulled it out and held it in her fist.

_She had given Flack the chain about a month ago. She had been out shopping with a friend when they came upon a small shop selling accessories like chains, necklaces, bracelets and rings. Morgan spotted a ring with a simple design that she had thought of giving to Flack and the shop owner asked if she wished to engrave a message on it. _

"_Are you planning to give it to your boyfriend?" asked the store owner, and Morgan nodded with a smile. _

_Flack and Morgan met up for lunch the next day, and she presented the gift to him while they were waiting for their orders. _

"_Why the gift? It isn't my birthday or Christmas," said a surprised Flack. _

"_If you don't want it, I can always take it back," Morgan said as she moved to snatch the chain back from Flack's hands. _

"_No, of course I want it." Flack grabbed it back from her and tried the ring on. "Erm, we have a problem," he said. _

_The ring was a bit too small for all of Flack's ten fingers. "Oops," Morgan said with a chuckle. She showed him the chain she had picked out while at the shop and he threaded the ring through the chain and wore it around his neck. _

"_Problem solved," Flack said with a smile. _

Feeling thirsty, Morgan got up to go to the vending machine to buy a drink, but the shooting pain in her ankle made her sit back down on the chair.

"Are you alright?" It was Danny.

Morgan shook her head slowly. He sat down next to her and she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I'm scared, Danny," said Morgan as her eyes filled with tears she had been holding in for the past couple of hours.

"It's going to be okay," said Danny. "I'll make sure of that."

* * *


	38. Aftermath

**Hi folks! Here's a new chapter, and as a treat, I'm posting up 2 chapters at once! Ain't that great? Hehe. I should have a new chapter up within the week, and there should be more to come. Sigh, the 3rd season is about halfway gone and I'm still on last season's storyline...**

**Spoilers: #2.24 - "Charge of this Post".**

**38: AFTERMATH **

Mac and the team were one step closer to identifying the bomber. DNA tests on a hair found on the duffel bag at the Chelsea University Library showed traces of a drug used to treat schizophrenia. Not only was the bomber potentially dangerous, he was also a mentally unsound individual who hasn't been taking his meds.

Further investigations on the bomb components reveal that the blasting caps and C-4 were stolen from the National Guard Armory at Fort Wadsworth .

The search led Stella and Mac to an abandoned house in Queens , which bore signs of a bomb-making facility of sorts. They also found the stolen laptops from the Department of Homeland Security. The evidence revealed some aspect of the bomber's personality. He was someone in a desperate search for an identity, and had applied unsuccessfully to the military three times. He also seemed to have taken an interest in Mac, having researched Mac's career as a Marine.

Mac's cell phone rang; it was the bomber giving him a warning about another explosion that was set to go off in an hour's time.

Back at the temporary Command Post at the first blast site, Mac and Stella meet OHS Tech Dean Lessing. Stella had met with him earlier when he was taking photographs of the debris left behind in the explosion.

Lessing left behind a footprint stained with blue ink on a piece of paper on the ground. This led Mac to suspect Lessing as he had earlier stated that he did not have clearance to go inside the building. The blue ink was everywhere inside the gutted building, a result of an exploded copier. It meant that Lessing had to have been inside at some point.

Out of the several sites that the bomber gave, Mac zeroed in on a theater that was closed on Sundays. They already knew that the bomber's purpose was not to claim lives but to make a point.

**XXX**

"Danny, we're going to the Goodmanson Theater."

Danny was sitting with Morgan when he got the call from Mac. They had found the bomber, and they were going to the theater to stop him from detonating another bomb.

He raced over to join Mac and the others outside the theater where they geared up with their weapons and bulletproof vests. Advancing into the theater, they were careful not to give themselves away, knowing that they were at a disadvantage because Lessing was obviously familiar with the surroundings of the theater.

It was this disadvantage that led to Agent Fielding being taken hostage by Lessing, who asserted that he was just trying to make people see that the Department of Homeland Security wasn't ready to handle bomb attacks such as what he had done.

After a few tense moments, Mac assumed the bearing of a Marine officer and ordered Lessing to put down the weapon he was holding, addressing him as a Marine. It worked, for Lessing released the female agent from his grip and promptly secured his weapon and finished with a salute. It was what his deluded mind needed to hear, to be addressed as a Marine as he had always dreamt of.

"Please accompany the Lance Corporal out of the building," Mac said to the NYPD officers standing by. Lessing walked off with them without any resistance. He was a man grappling with his sanity, but Lessing was no longer dangerous.

**XXX**

Night had fallen.

Mac and Stella return to the hospital where they find a tired Morgan half-asleep beside Flack's bed. Stella lightly tapped on the glass window of the room and Morgan looked up. She motioned for the younger woman to step out and Morgan did.

"We got him," was all Stella said when Morgan stepped out of the room and she hugged her colleague in relief.

The doctor showed up soon after, and Mac got up to speak to him.

The three of them sat together for a while until Danny, Lindsay and Hawkes showed up.

"How's he doing?"

"The doctor says there's room for 'cautious optimism'," said Stella.

After learning that Flack was scheduled for a brain scan the next day, Hawkes promptly excused himself to go to talk to the neurologist in charge of Flack's case.

"Once a doctor, always a doctor," Stella said to Morgan with a smile as she got up to get coffee for them.

Morgan went back into the room with Danny following behind as Mac remained outside.

"They caught the bomber," said Morgan as she held Flack's hand. "You hear that?"

"Danny." Morgan sounded as if she had been sapped of all energy.

"What if he doesn't wake up?"

Danny knelt on the ground to look his sister straight in the eye. "Don't think like that," he said. "He'd better wake up or he's going to get it from me."

Morgan leaned forward to touch Flack's cheek. "Why did you have to make me become so dependent on you, huh?"

She was about to say more when Danny interrupted her. "I'm telling you, Don. If you don't wake up right now I'm going to kick your ass until you do. Remember what you promised me?"

"Promised you what?" Morgan asked but Danny kept talking as if he hadn't heard her.

"You swore that you would never make my sister suffer. You'd better not die on us, Don. Don't you **_dare._**"

Danny took one more look at Flack before hurriedly exiting the room and mumbling something like " Montana 's waiting for her ride". Morgan followed him out to see him leaving with Lindsay.

He didn't have to say anything for Morgan to realize something was wrong. It wasn't like Danny to leave just like that when his buddy wasn't yet out of the woods.

Fate had it that Flack had been admitted into the same hospital as Louie Messer, their half-brother, who had been in a coma for a few weeks without any sign of regaining consciousness.

"Let him be," Mac said when he saw Morgan staring after Danny.

Stella returned with coffee but had to leave soon after when she got a call from Dispatch. Mac was about to ask Morgan to go home and rest when she said adamantly that she was going to be staying.

"Looks like the both of you are going to be staying," said Stella. She left after promising to get breakfast for the both of them the next day.

**XXX **

Mac and Morgan enter Flack's room and sat on either side of his bed. Mac grabbed Flack's hand as he spoke to the unconscious detective.

"Don, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand."

Mac waited a while, and then he felt the faint grip of Flack's hand on his. He looked up to alert Morgan, but she was already fast asleep. Her head was resting on her arms on the bed. He decided not to wake her up, and shrugged off his own jacket, draping it over her shoulders to keep her warm.

Mac returned to the other side of Flack's bed where he sat on the chair and dozed off for a while.

Morgan was still asleep when Mac awoke from his brief slumber. He pondered over whether he should call Danny to come and pick her up, but knowing Morgan, she probably wouldn't leave unless she was dragged away.

Mac dialed Danny's number on his cell phone and hung up when he didn't answer after a few rings. Danny was either asleep or somewhere else, Mac figured. It wasn't easy having to see your buddy and brother both in critical condition at the same hospital.

Even though it was late in the night, Mac couldn't go back to sleep after waking up. He silently exited the room, thinking of taking a short stroll around.

Mac found himself walking to the section of the ward where Louie was. He showed his badge to the nurse on duty and asked if he could visit Louie. The nurse agreed, but warned that he should not take too long.

He stood at the foot of Louie's bed. "How is he doing?" Mac said to the nurse, who had followed him into the room to check on Louie.

She shook her head slowly. "Still the same."

* * *

**There's a new chapter following right behind this one! Hoped you like it! **


	39. Meet the Parents

**39: MEET THE PARENTS**

Morgan found herself calling out Flack's name as she awoke from her slumber the next morning. She had dreamt that he had woken up. The last thing she remembered from the dream was hugging Flack in relief.

Mac's jacket was still draped across her shoulders; but he had already left. He had left a note saying that he needed to go back to the lab and that he would give her a couple of days off.

"Thanks Mac," Morgan said to herself as she read the note.

**XXX **

Morgan was sitting by herself next to Flack's bedside reading a magazine when Mac returned that afternoon.

"Flack's parents will be here by evening," he said. Flack's folks were out of state and had booked the first available flight back to New York. Morgan nodded slowly as she put away the magazine and stroked Flack's forehead gently.

Mac pulled up a chair and seated himself next to her.

"Have you met his parents before?" he asked. Morgan shook her head.

"You look surprised," she said. Most people were, once they heard that Morgan hadn't even seen Flack's parents once, given how close they were.

The truth was it just wasn't an issue between them. Perhaps it was the lack of both parents in her own life, and the fact that Flack didn't talk about his parents much.

"I know that Don is close to his mother… but I get the feeling that he has some unresolved issues with Flack Senior."

Morgan could sort of tell, by the way Flack's tone of voice and expression changed whenever the topic of Flack Senior came up. Danny would behave in a similar way whenever Morgan tried to talk about their father. She could think of a few possibilities why Flack didn't like talking about his father, and she guessed that one of those reasons would be that they were both cops, albeit during different generations.

That factor alone was like a can of conflicts just waiting to be opened.

"I didn't want to push the issue any further too. He can be as stubborn as Danny sometimes," Morgan added.

"To tell you the truth, the thought of meeting them makes me nervous," she admitted.

Morgan had always had the impression that Flack Senior was this tall, imposing man with an eternally stern look on his face. As for Flack's mother, she was just hoping that the woman would be this nice and friendly middle-aged lady.

Mac left a short while later as he had a new case to work on. There was still no sign of Danny.

**XXX **

Later that afternoon, Morgan was flipping through television channels and stuck to the channel airing _Days of Our Lives_. She was scoffing at the absurdity of the plot when a nurse walked in, followed by Flack's attending doctor.

"Miss Messer, we need to give Detective Flack a check-up," said the doctor.

Morgan stood up from her seat. "I was just thinking of taking a walk," she said, as she leaned over Flack's sleeping form and kissed his forehead.

She left the ward and decided to visit Louie, whose ward was just two floors up from where Flack was. About a month had passed since he was admitted into the ICU, after Sonny Sassone had beaten Louie to within an inch of his life, and there seemed to be no improvement; Louie was still unresponsive.

Morgan sat next to Louie's bed and briefly held his hand in silence. She got up to leave after a few minutes, just as a doctor was coming in. "Oh, Dr. Miles, hi."

"I've been trying to contact your brother Danny for the past few days; do you have idea why he wouldn't take my calls?" Dr. Miles asked.

"It's been a busy week at the crime lab," Morgan replied.

Dr. Miles went on to say there was something that he needed to discuss with Danny.

"If it's about Louie, you can talk to me."

**XXX **

Morgan returned to Flack's hospital room to find a woman standing at his bedside. She made a frown and glanced over to the bed to confirm Flack's presence and that she hadn't entered the wrong room.

Morgan quietly walked up to the middle-aged woman and asked, "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"Oh! You must be Morgan," the woman said and grabbed her hands in a warm handshake. "I wish we'd met under better circumstances, but it's still nice to finally meet you."

Morgan could only return the woman's kind gesture with a puzzled look.

"I'm Don's mother…?" The woman said, waving a hand over Flack. "But please, call me Madeline."

"Madeline."

"Detective Taylor has filled me in on what happened, how terrible…"

"Yeah," Morgan replied. "I wish this had never happened, it's so hard to see Don like this."

They both sat down on opposite ends of the bed. Madeline gazed lovingly at her son while she stroked his hand. "I'm always praying that nothing like this would happen to my husband and my son, but I guess you can't avoid the inevitable."

Madeline looked over to Morgan. "You look just like how Don described you to be. But you know, I thought he was exaggerating a little bit at first."

Morgan was expecting to see an older woman with slightly gray hair and a slightly stocky frame, for some reason. Instead, Madeline was a woman in her fifties with almost jet-black hair and a slender frame, which belied her age.

"Why?"

"Because you were the first girlfriend he's had in a few years, I couldn't believe my ears when he raved about what a great person you were. I've been wanting to meet you ever since, but Don has always managed to find an excuse for me not to."

"I wonder why," Morgan replied.

"Well, at least now I know that he didn't make up a story so that I'd stop bugging him about being single." Madeline said with a smile.

Madeline pulled up a chair and motioned for Morgan to sit. "A sprained ankle is no joke, you shouldn't move about too much." She declined and offered the seat to Madeline instead.

"That's sweet of you, dear, but there's more than one chair in this room, you know."

Morgan let her take the seat closer to Flack, and watched as Madeline held her son's hand and said a silent prayer. She finished with "Amen" and turned to Morgan.

"Children really grow up fast, don't they? Sometimes I still see Don as a scrawny kid playing basketball." Madeline said with a wistful smile.

"Is that the reason why Don refuses to show me any of his childhood photos?"

Madeline opened up her purse and showed Morgan a couple of photos of a teenaged Flack. Morgan couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of a young and skinny Flack. "Feel better?" the older woman asked.

Morgan suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. "I'm sorry," she said.

"What for?"

"I feel like I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around."

"Don't be silly," Madeline said.

* * *

**That's all I have for now! Please keep checking back for new chapters...**


	40. Good News Awaits

**40: GOOD NEWS AWAITS **

"I've seen my fair share of hospital rooms back when Don's old man was still in the NYPD," said Madeline. "I don't know how I could remain sane if I broke down each time he landed himself in hospital."

Morgan understood how she felt. She too, was constantly worried for Danny and Flack, especially her dear brother, who could be a bit of a loose cannon at times.

Madeline took Morgan's hand in hers. "I don't mean to sound cheesy, but I feel like I can talk to you about anything."

Morgan felt relieved. She wished she didn't have to meet Flack's mother under such circumstances, but was happy that his mother turned out to be a really warm and friendly person. Now, if only things would go as smoothly when she met his father…

"Not many people know about this, but a long time ago things nearly fell apart between me and Don's old man." Madeline waited a beat and upon seeing Morgan's reaction, said, "You don't seem surprised."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude."

Morgan explained that she knew being a cop was a stressful job, and personal relationships tended to be a luxury that some of them could not afford. She was also aware that some of Flack's past relationships ended because of that very reason.

"It's okay," said Madeline. "Don was in elementary school, and his old man had hardly been home for a week, working on some big case – at least that's the reason he gave me."

And so one day, Madeline packed some things and with young Flack in tow, went to live with her parents. She contemplated leaving Flack Sr. for good, but wanted some time to think things over first.

"It was two weeks before he turned up at my parents' house," Madeline said.

After wrapping up that big case – he was telling the truth – Flack Sr. did not immediately go over to his in-laws to take his wife and kid home, but instead wanted to let Madeline have a little cool-off period, hoping that when he did actually go and see her, she would have cooled down enough to hear him explain.

"Don was so happy to see his old man that I eventually relented and went home with him, and although sometimes I have regretted that decision, I've stuck with him since."

"I admire you for that," Morgan said sincerely. "A lesser woman would have given up."

She decided right then that she would not be that lesser woman; Flack needed her just as much as she needed him.

"I want to be as strong as you, Madeline." Morgan said solemnly as her gaze lingered on Flack.

"Oh, sweetie," the older woman said as she pulled Morgan into a hug.

Morgan was so preoccupied with Madeline's appearance that she'd completely forgotten about Flack Sr.

"By the way, where's your husband?"

"Oh," Madeline said with a wave of her hand, "he said he wanted to take a smoke before coming in. I've been telling him to quit for years, but…" she threw her hands up in mock-defeat.

She pointed to her son. "I've been telling him the same thing too, every chance I get."

"I think it's working," said Morgan. "He says he hears your voice in his head each time he even thinks about smoking."

"Good." Madeline said, as she turned around at the sound of footsteps approaching the room. "Ah, the old man is here."

"Don't tell him I said that," she whispered to Morgan as a man of about sixty made his way into the room.

There was no mistaking who he was. Morgan knew instantly that the tall and imposing elderly man was Flack Senior.

"Donald, I want to meet Morgan, the girl Don's been talking about." The older Flack stuck out his hand and Morgan extended hers in a handshake. "Her brother works with Don," Madeline continued.

"Messer? He's your brother?" Morgan nodded, and Flack Senior muttered a soft "hmm" which left her with an odd feeling, as if he didn't think very highly of Danny.

Flack Sr. looked exactly like how Morgan had imagined him to be: tall, imposing, dark hair and blue eyes just like Don and they sort of spoke the same way as well.

XXX 

Morgan remained in the room with them for a few moments, before excusing herself to go outside for some air. What Louie's doctor said to her earlier weighed on her mind…he declined to elaborate on why he needed to see Danny, but it didn't take a genius to guess that he wanted to talk about Louie's condition.

Morgan was sitting at a bench outside the hospital when Danny walked up to her.

"I went up to Don's room and his folks told me that you'd be here," he said.

"Dr. Miles has been looking for you; he needs to discuss something with you."

"I know, he's left a few messages…" Danny said while rubbing the back of his neck.

Morgan was puzzled. Why did he avoid the doctor on purpose?

"Look, I knew what he was going to say…I just didn't want to think about it, okay?"

Life had really given Danny a lot of lemons to suck on in recent weeks, beginning with having to revisit his past with the Tanglewood Boys, Louie, Aiden and now Don. If there was one less thing for him to deal with, all the better.

Morgan put an arm around her brother's shoulders. "I know you've had a lot to deal with recently, but this is Louie we're talking about…"

"What's there to say? I know the doctor will probably ask me if I want to pull the plug on the machine that's keeping my brother alive."

"You don't know that for sure, Danny."

"Who are you kidding? There's been no change in his condition ever since he was admitted here," Danny replied as he hung his head down. He spied Morgan yawning, and ruffled her hair.

"Come on, I'll take you home, you look like crap."

Morgan refused, she wanted to be here in case Flack regained consciousness after the effects of the anesthesia wore off, but Danny would hear none of it.

"No, you're coming back with me, I'll drag you home if I have to."

Danny grabbed his sister by the arm and pulled her up from the bench. "Come on."

XXX 

Morgan fell asleep moments after her head hit the pillow; she hadn't even changed out of the clothes that she'd been wearing since the explosion.

"Didn't someone say she wouldn't be able to sleep," muttered Danny, who popped into Morgan's room to check on her. Earlier in the car, Morgan had said that even though she felt fatigue, she didn't think she'd be able to sleep when she was still worrying about Flack. "And who's the one in a deep slumber now," Danny said to himself as he gingerly closed the door to his sister's room.

He was still on call for the night, so Danny decided to make himself some coffee and watch some television to while away the time. He didn't say it out loud, but he too was concerned for Flack and was actually waiting to see if he'd get the call informing him that Flack had woken up. Later that night, just as Danny's brain was falling asleep due to some boring program airing on television, he was jolted to his senses by sudden and loud drum beats. "Wha…?"

Danny looked around for the source of the "noise" and realized that it was coming from Morgan's bag, which she'd tossed onto the ground next to the couch before going into her room. "Why can't she use a normal ringtone like other normal people? What's wrong with the old-school ringing tone?" he mumbled to himself as he fished out Morgan's cell from her bag and flipped it open to answer the call.

"My sister's asleep, so you're gonna have to call her back or leave a message. Thanks." Danny was about to hang up when a voice said, "Is this Danny?"

The person on the other line obviously knew who he was, but he did not recognize the voice. "Who wants to know?"

It was Madeline, Flack's mother. "Is it Don? Did something happen?" Danny found himself holding his breath, only to let it out with a "whoosh" when Madeline reassured him that Flack was fine. In fact, she was calling Morgan to inform her that Flack had just regained consciousness. "He's still a little out of it due to the anesthesia and painkillers, but that's only temporary. Donnie's asked about Morgan though," Madeline said.

"I'll go see if she's awake," Danny said.

"Oh no, no. If she's asleep I don't want to wake her. I could tell that she needs the rest."

Danny agreed. Even if Morgan was awake and wanted to go to the hospital, with the traffic at this time visitation hours would be over by the time she got there. Besides, their apartment wasn't anywhere near the hospital. "It wouldn't hurt to let her know first thing tomorrow. Donnie's not exactly being responsive at the moment anyway."

Madeline too, was planning to head home soon after a discussion with the doctor, who was optimistic about Flack's recovery. The fact that he managed to wake up relatively soon after the operation was testament to that. She trusted that her son would be in the good care of the medical staff here. Besides, there was nothing much to be done but to see how things go in the morning, when the doctor would give Flack a full check-up to fully assess the situation, just to be sure.

Just after Danny ended the call with Madeline, his own cell phone beeped. It was Dispatch calling him to a crime scene. He decided to check up on Morgan again before leaving the house. Writing a short note on a Post-It, Danny placed the note and her bag on her bedside table. Morgan barely stirred as he entered the room, completely oblivious to Danny's presence within.

XXX 

A few hours later, Morgan woke up with an empty feeling in her stomach. She had hardly eaten anything since morning. Remembering that they were running out of things to eat, Morgan hoped that there would be something edible for her to eat in the kitchen, she sure didn't feel like ordering take-out. Grabbing the last box of the microwave-able TV dinners from the refrigerator, Morgan had just popped it in the microwave when the loud drum beats started playing again. Morgan spent quite a few moments looking around for her bag, for she'd thought that she'd left it in the living room. Just then, she remembered seeing it on her bedside table just minutes ago and ran to answer the phone before the caller hung up.

"Hello?" It was an unknown number, and Morgan suddenly felt nervous.

"It's me." The voice on the other end sounded raspy and void of energy, but Morgan recognized the voice. "Don!"

"I had a feeling that you might be awake," Flack said. "I just needed to hear your voice…"

"Don…when did you wake up?" Morgan could not believe her ears.

"Been a few hours. My mom called earlier but Danny said you were asleep."

Morgan was silently cursing her brother for not waking her up to tell her the good news.

"It's too late for you to come anyway, don't be upset at Danny," said Flack. Morgan glanced over her shoulder to the clock on the wall of the kitchen. It was close to 1 AM.

"You gave me quite a big scare, Don." Morgan's voice was beginning to choke up. "I know, I'm sorry. My mom was quite upset too."

The first thing Madeline had said to him was, "Son, you scare me like that again and I'm going to slap you." All Flack Sr. said was that he was glad that Flack was awake.

"My mom couldn't stop talking about you," Don said. Madeline even declared that if Flack didn't marry Morgan, she'd never speak to her son again. "Mom!" Flack had protested, and after a beat he said, "Really?"

"I'm very serious about this, Donnie. You'd better marry that girl."

Flack didn't relate this to Morgan however; he didn't want to put any unnecessary pressure on her. All he said was that Madeline had taken a strong liking to her. It was the first time that she'd so strongly approved of any of his long-term girlfriends, not that there was many of those in the past in the first place.

"I guess something good came out of this after all," Morgan said. "I met your dad too." She mentioned that from the way he mentioned Danny, it seemed to Morgan that Flack's dad didn't like her brother all that much.

"Nah, just ignore him. It's only because he knows about Danny's IAB investigation, to him that's as good as being dirty."

With this insight, Morgan got a clearer picture of how Flack's father was. It seemed that he was a person who would see things purely in black and white, without any shades of gray.

A moment of silence went by before Morgan broke it by apologizing. "For what?" Don said. "About our fight the day before."

"What fight? I don't remember us having a fight. And no, I'm not suffering from amnesia."

"Then you're not mad?" Flack clarified that he was never mad in the first place. The reason why he didn't call Morgan the night of their argument was because he was working on a case till late, and didn't want to disturb her. "Oh…ow, ow, ow." Morgan had gotten up when the microwave oven beeped, and momentarily forgotten that she was still nursing a sprained ankle. "Are you okay?"

Morgan said yes, she was fine, it was just a sprained ankle. "What happened?"

"Nothing, I was careless, that's all." Flack could tell that she was hiding something, even though he was still feeling a little woozy from the anesthesia. "What really happened?"

Morgan had no choice but to reveal that she was there when the explosion occurred, visiting her friend Kim, and that she saw him when he passed by the apartment building on his way to meet Lindsay. "Next thing I knew, there were people running toward us, screaming something about a bomb. When I knew that you were in the building, I freaked out. I was going towards the building you were in when some ladies came out of there and in the chaos I got pushed to the floor."

She confessed that that probably saved her from probable serious injury. If she hadn't sprained her ankle… "I would probably be with you in the ICU."

Flack felt guilty. "If you had gotten injured, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

"Don't be silly, Don. You didn't even know that I was there."

They talked for a few minutes more and then Flack said, "I gotta go. The nurse came in for the third time she says she's yanking the telephone line of the socket the next time."

Morgan chuckled, and Flack reluctantly hung up after she promised to go see him first thing tomorrow morning.

After that talk with Flack, she realized she didn't feel hungry anymore. She left the TV dinner dish where it was, in the microwave and returned to her room, where she fell into a peaceful sleep.

* * *


	41. Out of the Woods

**I am so, so, so sorry for neglecting this fic. Work takes up most of my life, and ****I've just been really lazy to do anything when I get home after a whole day of work. I've been trying to work on this fic bit by bit though. All the excitement about the new season has spurred me on a little. Hehe. **

**I really hope that there is still one person out there reading this! **

**41: OUT OF THE WOODS**

"He'll probably laugh at me for giving him this," Morgan muttered to herself while at the hospital gift shop. Shrugging it off, she paid for her purchase and made her way to Flack's room in the Intensive Care Unit. Smiling to herself as she walked through the halls, Morgan passed one of the nurses she'd seen the day before and nodded hello to her.

She was almost skipping in happiness into Flack's room when Morgan noticed that the room was empty, even the sheets and blankets were neatly made and folded. "That's strange…"

A nurse passed by, and Morgan stopped her to ask about Flack. "I'm not too sure where this patient has gone, but you could check at the nurses' station," she said.

"Do you know where the patient in Room 1624 has gone?" Morgan said as she approached the nurses' station. The nurse on duty asked for the name and Morgan gave it to her. "Donald Flack, Jr."

The nurse, whose name was Sandra according to her nametag, pressed a few keys on the computer. "There we go. He's been transferred out of ICU. Room number 1456," she said.

"Go two floors down, make a right at the reception desk. You should be able to find him there."

Following the directions given by Sandra the nurse, Morgan managed to find the room that Flack was in, and slowly pushed open the door to the room.

"Don…?"

Morgan heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that Flack was indeed in the room, just as the nurse said he'd be.

"Hey," Flack said as he tried to get up to a sitting position, but grimaced when his stomach wound made movement difficult. She ran over to him to help him. "You should be lying down," Morgan rebuked lightly.

"My wound doesn't hurt now that you're here," Flack said as he took her hand and held it to his chest. Morgan leaned in close as he rubbed her cheek with his thumb and she lowered her head to give him a kiss.

"I have something for you," she said. Morgan reached into the paper bag she was holding and fished out…

"A teddy bear?" Flack said, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't like flowers, but I didn't want to come here empty-handed so this was the only other option," Morgan said with a shrug.

"Did the bear come with the necklace?" Flack said jokingly. Morgan had slipped Flack's necklace onto the bear before coming in. He slipped it off the bear and wore it on his own neck. "I thought I'd lost it," he said.

"Mac took it off when he bandaged your wound. He was afraid it would get lost. He gave it to me for safekeeping when we got here."

Morgan dreaded to imagine what would have happened had Mac not stopped the bleeding in time.

"Guess I owe him a big one now," Flack said.

There was a knock on the door and a nurse entered, holding a tray of food. "Ah, food," Flack said as she set the tray down on the table. He glanced at the plate and grimaced. "How long do I have to eat this baby food crap?"

Morgan promised to get him his favorite food the moment the doctor okay-ed it, but he'd have to bear with it for now.

"Now, don't start whining like Danny, alright?"

**XXX**

Later that afternoon, Morgan was munching on a chicken sandwich while Flack looked on in envy. "You know, it's pretty mean of you to eat that in front of me," he said.

"When you're able to eat solid food, I'll make as many of these as you want, okay?"

"Fine." Flack folded his arms, and unfolded them again to grab hold of the remote control. "I've been in here a couple of days and already it's driving me crazy."

He started to jab at the buttons on the remote control. "Is there anything good on TV in the day? Damn it."

Morgan snatched the remote out of his hand. "Relax, Don. Think of it as a vacation, when was the last time you actually got some free time to sit around and do nothing?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Flack snatched the remote back and flipped channels some more until he found a program he liked. "Ah, finally!"

"My mother really likes you a lot, you know," Flack said after a while.

Morgan smiled. "I like her too."

The phone on the bedside table rang, as if on cue. It was Madeline, asking if Flack needed her there but he replied that he didn't need someone with him 24/7, and told her to get some rest, she could come back the next day.

"_Are you afraid I'm going to get in the way of you two lovebirds?"_

"Stop embarrassing me, Ma. Bye," Flack said.

Morgan punched his arm lightly. "Let her come if she wants to."

"Nah, she didn't want to get in the way."

Before Morgan could reply, a loud clanging sound was heard from outside and Flack clearly flinched, his face contorting into an uncomfortable expression. Peering outside, Morgan saw a nurse picking up a metal tray from the ground.

"Don, you okay? You don't look very good."

Flack gritted his teeth and nodded. "I wish you didn't see that."

Morgan shrugged it off, it was a natural reaction and given the circumstances, it was perfectly normal. "Nothing wrong about that," she said. When Flack didn't answer, she wrapped an arm around his shoulder, saying, "Don, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

After a moment's hesitation, Flack said, "I've been thinking…about us."

Morgan wasn't sure what he was getting at. "What about us?"

"How much time have we actually spent together in the past few months?"

Morgan put her hands on Flack's shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. "Don, whatever you're about to say, don't."

"But I –" Flack had been cut off when Morgan placed her lips on his in a kiss.

"My mother was right. I think I'd have to marry you."

Morgan pushed him back. "Whoa…what?"

Flack threw his hands up. "I was just joking, although my mother did say that she'd disown me if I didn't make you her daughter-in-law."

"Well, if you're patient enough, she might just get her wish."


	42. Back Home

**42: BACK HOME**

Flack remained in the hospital for another two weeks, and the doctor was ready to discharge him in a few days. He was happy to finally get out but his joyous mood was marred when the doctor recommended that it would be best for him not to go back to work for at least another month; and pending a doctor's evaluation, he would be put on desk duty until Flack was declared fit for active duty.

"He might as well send me over to the Psych Ward now," he groused. "I'll eventually be driven to insanity anyway, spending all that time twiddling my thumbs."

"You sound like you're about to be sent to jail," said Morgan, amused at Flack's displeasure at being kept at home. "It can't be _that_ bad."

"Oh, it is. My mother is going to want to drop by every single chance she gets!" Flack was almost pulling his hair out in frustration.

Morgan thought it would be a good thing, since she too didn't think that Flack could take care of himself properly during this time.

"Why the hell not? I'm not a kid anymore,"

"Well, you know what they say, you'll always be a kid in your mother's eyes."

"Yeah," Flack scowled. "I've heard that one before. Doesn't mean that it's true."

**XXX**

"I'll be fine, Ma. Morgan and Danny are coming to pick me up," Flack said to his mother on the phone. He was getting discharged that day, and the last thing he wanted was to have his mother fussing over him. No such luck. Madeline, his mother, was already waiting for him in his apartment when he got home. Morgan took the keys from Flack and opened the front door to his apartment for him, while Danny was close behind, grudgingly carrying Flack's duffel bag.

"Ah! You're back," The door opened and Madeline was in the middle of picking Flack's clothes off the couch, among other places.

"What are you doing here?" Flack said, as Madeline went up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "And how did you get in?"

"Building super let me in," Madeline said nonchalantly. "I thought I'd come by to clean up the place a bit, obviously you've neglected to do that in a while."

Flack led his mother to his couch, which took up most of his small living room. "You didn't have to, I was going to..."

"What? Let Morgan do it?"

"Of course not," Flack said. "It's okay, I don't mind," Morgan said a few moments later.

Danny, who had been standing next to Morgan this whole time, piped up, "You bitch about having to do housework, and yet you'd gladly clean up Don's apartment?"

That remark earned him an elbow jab to the stomach by Morgan. "Shut up."

**XXX**

The next couple of weeks passed quickly, with Morgan spending most of her time either at work or with Flack.

Flack was not due back at work for another couple of weeks, but that didn't stop him from catching up on his work. He had gotten his co-worker at the precinct to bring him a stack of case files from his desk; past cases which have never been solved, or the investigation had been stalled due to slow incoming evidence. He always meant to go through those files, but never had the spare time to do that.

"Did you know that Mac has a stack of unsolved case files on his desk too?" Morgan quipped one afternoon while at his apartment. She had been helping to organize the notes in the files, which had been in a mess after the last time Flack leafed through them. "You're such a slob sometimes, Don. Or are you just lazy?"

"Yeah, filing really isn't my thing."

"Neither is color coordination, apparently." Morgan made it a point to mention that sometimes, his ties didn't match his shirt.

"Well...sometimes I just didn't have the time to find a matching tie, okay?" Flack said.

"Okay, whatever."

In between their usual light-hearted banter, Flack mentioned that his mother wanted Morgan over for dinner during the weekend.

"What?" Morgan stood up abruptly, the papers on her lap falling into a heap on the floor. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

"My mother just called this morning..." Flack replied. "And why are you freaking out about this?"

"Because!" Morgan threw her hands up. "It's my first official visit to your parents, that's why!"

Flack chuckled. He always felt that Morgan looked the most adorable when she was flustered.

"Relax, Morgan. How bad can it be? You've already met them anyway," Flack said.

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say. You don't have to deal with the same thing," Morgan said, referring to the absence of her own parents.

"You're right, it's different. Dealing with Danny is a whole different thing, it's much worse," Flack quipped.

"Look, I'm not looking forward to it too, okay? But we need to get this out of the way," he said.

Morgan pondered for a moment. "Fine, we're in this together, right? Do I have to, like, wear a dress?"

"Yes, probably," Flack said, and Morgan groaned. "My father expects people to be dressed presentably at a family dinner."

"Great. And he'll have to sit through dinner, watching me squirm in a dress."

Morgan began pacing the floor. "Do I have a decent dress? No, I don't!"

"I'm sure you have at least a skirt," Flack offered.

Flack did not understand why Morgan was so nervous about dinner with his parents. "It's my first time meeting the parents! My previous relationships never got that far, ahem, thanks to my brother."

"But that's not the only reason, is it?"

"I get the feeling that your father does not like me."

"Yeah, my dad hates everyone in general," Flack deadpanned.


	43. Requiem

**Hi everyone! I'm back with a new chapter, finally! I've had some time to work on it, I hope nobody's too upset about the developments in this chapter. Read and review, please! Comments are much loved. I have also decided to change the fic's title. I know it's a little too late in the game for a title change, but it's been bothering me lately. "Subtlety" will stay in the title though, so as not to confuse anybody.**

Spoilers: Mild ones for #2.20 - "Run Silent, Run Deep" and #2.24 - "Charge of this Post".**  
**

* * *

**43: REQUIEM**

Morgan was getting more and more nervous as the weekend approached. She had even considered taking up the weekend shifts just so she could get out of meeting Flack's parents, or more specifically, his father, for the elder Flack intimidated her.

"Is there any way we could postpone this?" Morgan moaned to Flack while at his apartment one evening.

"It's just dinner, not an interrogation, relax." Flack reassured her.

"I don't know, I just keep getting the feeling that your father doesn't like me."

"So what? He's not the one you're dating."

Their conversation was interrupted before Morgan could come up with a reply. Her phone rang, and she answered it to find that it was Dr. Miles, Louie's attending doctor at the hospital. He was, again, trying to get Danny on the phone but had been unable to contact him.

_(A/N: Refer to Chapter 39 for earlier mention of Dr. Miles.)_

Dr. Miles needed Danny to make a decision regarding Louie, who had been on life support for the past two months since Tanglewood boy Sonny Sassone beat him to within an inch of his life.

"What are you going to do?" Flack asked.

Morgan sighed. "Danny can't keep running away from this, you know."

"I can help talk to him," Flack offered.

Morgan caressed his cheek, saying, "It's very sweet of you, but I don't want you getting in the middle of all this."

"It's fine. I don't mind."

"You just focus on getting better, alright?"

XXX

"Did you even hear a word of what Dr. Miles said? It's highly unlikely that Louie will ever wake up!"

The Messer siblings were at their apartment, where Danny had just gotten off the phone with Dr. Miles. It was a heated conversation, and it ended with Danny hanging up on the poor doctor, whom he called "a quack".

"I am not going to pull the plug on my brother, end of story."

Unfortunately, Flack was unlucky enough to have been in the apartment with them as Danny paced the small living room and having it out with Dr. Miles.

"But it's not impossible," Danny argued.

Morgan slapped her palm over her forehead in exasperation.

"He's been on life support for two months. He'd already stopped breathing by the time paramedics brought him to the hospital. Ask Don, he was there too."

"She's right, Danny." Flack's attempts at mediating between the siblings only earned him a death glare from Danny.

"Okay. I'm shutting up now."

"What will it take to convince you that pulling the plug is the best thing we can do for Louie right now?" Morgan didn't want to spell it out so bluntly, but sidestepping the matter wasn't going to do anyone any good.

"It's easy for you to say, you never knew Louie the way I did."

Morgan was hurt by her brother's remark.

"Sure, I barely knew him, but he's still family. You think I don't feel sad for him?" Flack pulled her back down onto the couch and clenched her hand in his, which calmed her down a little.

Danny stared at her intently for a moment, and then went into his room without a word.

"Just give him some time to think it over," Flack said comfortingly.

During lunch hour the next day, Morgan approached Danny tentatively at his desk. He saw her coming and immediately he said, "I'm not pulling the plug."

"I was just going to ask if you wanted to go visit Louie together," she said softly.

XXX

While riding the elevator up to Louie's floor, Morgan tried to breach the subject of Louie's condition again. "Danny, I think you should talk to Dr. Miles again," she said.

"What's there to talk about?" Danny jabbed the elevator buttons absent-mindedly.

"There's no avoiding it, and you know it. Now is not the time for you to be stubborn," Morgan said.

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

The elevator doors slid open just then, and they made their way to Louie's room in a terse silence. They entered his room and stood at the foot of the bed, watching Louie's unresponsive form. Danny pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed, holding his brother's hand and speaking softly to him.

"I don't care what the doctor says, Morgan. We are not killing Louie."

Morgan sighed. "We've been over this, Danny. Louie is still alive only because of the life-support machines."

"You believe that quack?"

"You're a CSI, Danny. A scientist! You should know that what Dr. Miles is saying isn't without any basis. You just don't want to face the truth," Morgan said.

Danny was about to say something in reply when a knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. "Hawkes? What are you doing here?"

"I asked him to meet us here," Morgan said. She had called him that morning and asked a favor of him. Hawkes was out in the field working on a crime scene, but agreed to come to the hospital when he was done. "Why?" Danny asked.

"I was thinking, maybe it'd be easier for you to accept the truth if it came from someone like Hawkes," Morgan said.

"I don't need someone to persuade me. I'm not changing my mind."

"Danny, Louie is not going to wake up. If we don't let him go, he'll stay like this forever."

Danny stood up from the chair. "He will…someday."

"He won't, Danny."

Hawkes stepped in between the siblings. "Guys, please."

"Am I interrupting anything?" It was Dr. Miles. "I was making my rounds, I can come back in a bit if you want."

Morgan stopped him from leaving, and introduced Hawkes to him. "This is Dr. Hawkes, he's a friend."

"A doctor? In what field?" Dr. Miles asked as the two men shook heads.

"Actually, I'm a CSI now. I used to be a medical examiner, and before that I spent 5 years in the ER."

Dr. Miles was impressed. Morgan politely cut in, "I was wondering if you could fill him in on Louie's condition."

She explained her reason behind that request. "I'm not doubting your judgment, doctor."

Dr. Miles understood. "I know how hard it is to let go," he said.

Morgan managed to get Danny to leave Louie's side while Dr. Miles and Hawkes stepped in. "I'm going to get coffee," he mumbled, but he would disappear for more than ten minutes.

Morgan's cell phone rang. It was Flack calling, but she had to disconnect the call because the nurse at the nurses' station was giving her a dirty look for keeping her phone switched on in the "no cell phones allowed" area. She nodded an apology as she moved to another area of the floor where cell phone usage was allowed, and returned the call.

"Hey," Morgan said. "What's up?"

Coincidentally, Flack had gone for a check-up at the hospital as well. He had been admitted to the same hospital when he was injured in the bombing in the West Village about two months ago.

"How did it go?"

"Good," Flack said. The doctor had cleared him for returning to work, but the physical therapy sessions had to continue, to make sure he had his strength back.

"That's great," Morgan said, but Flack groaned in response. "What's wrong?"

The doctor had said that Flack would have to spend about a month on desk duty, until he had been given the all clear to go back to active field duty. "I don't think I can endure a whole month of sitting at my desk and twiddling my thumbs."

"At least you're alive," Morgan said with a sudden sadness in her tone, something that Flack immediately picked up on. "Is everything okay?" he asked. She briefly related the situation at hand and told him where she was, and he appeared at her side within a few minutes. "You don't have to be here," she said.

"I want to," Flack replied. "Besides, I have all time in the world to squander away."

They went back to Louie's room. Dr. Miles and Hawkes were still inside, having a solemn discussion. Morgan saw Hawkes pick up the patient chart and leaf through it while Dr. Miles spoke to him.

Danny had returned, and stood just outside the room with Morgan and Flack.

The two doctors emerged from Louie's room, and Hawkes had his head lowered. A nurse approached and Dr. Miles excused himself to attend to another patient.

"Well?" Danny said tersely. "I'm sorry, Danny."

"I concur with Dr. Miles' decision," Hawkes said.

He reiterated what Dr. Miles had previously told Danny. Louie had suffered brain damage due to prolonged lack of oxygen – he wasn't breathing when paramedics got to him. "Dr. Miles didn't come to this decision alone, he consulted a team of neurologists who all came to the same conclusion," Hawkes added.

"He's breathing now," Danny pointed to Louie's unconscious form. It hurt Morgan to see Danny in denial. She wanted to believe as much as Danny did too, but the fact was that Louie was never going to wake up. "The machines are keeping him alive, Danny," Hawkes said as he placed a comforting hand on Danny's shoulder. "I wish I could tell you different, believe me."

There was nothing more the doctors could do. Of course, they would keep Louie on life support if Danny so chose, but unless he was as loaded as Donald Trump, his finances wouldn't be able to hold out for long. "It doesn't matter when you pull the plug, the result won't be any different." For a moment there, Hawkes felt like he was back in the ER, telling the bereaved family that he had been unable to save their child. He hated feeling so helpless. It was one of the reasons why he left the ER.

Danny pounded his fists on the clear glass window outside Louie's room. Morgan held onto Flack's hand tightly; the warmth emanating from his hand gave her much comfort. After a long moment of silence, Danny said, "I need some time alone." He entered Louie's room and sat down next to the bed as he had done when he first arrived.

Outside, Morgan thanked Hawkes by giving him a hug, and he returned the gesture. "Thank you so much," she said. "You didn't have to help us out like that."

Hawkes gave her a friendly pat on the back and released her from his embrace. "I don't even know if I was of any help," he replied. Morgan glanced over her shoulder at Danny, who was holding onto Louie's hand. He looked like he was saying something to Louie. "I think you got through to him, I can tell," Morgan said. Hawkes' cell phone beeped, it was Mac, summoning him back to work. "I owe you a big one," Morgan said as he ran to catch the elevator.

Danny finally emerged from the room a long while later. Morgan could tell from his red eyes that he'd been crying. She approached him and he looked back at her with a look of resignation. He conveyed his decision with a single nod of his head, and Morgan understood. She embraced her brother as Flack went to the nurses' station to get them to contact Dr. Miles. "I'm so sorry, Danny," Morgan whispered, as she fought back tears.

She thought she was prepared for it, but the feeling of finality began to sink in with Danny's acceptance of Louie's fate, and it overwhelmed her. "I want to say goodbye," she said, and the siblings entered Louie's hospital room once again.

Morgan sat quietly by his bedside, bidding him a silent farewell. She reached out to touch his cheek, which felt a little cold to the touch. "At least he'll be in a better place," she said. "Maybe he can finally see his mother again."

Louie's mother – who had been in a relationship with Danny and Morgan's father before their mother came into the picture – died of cancer 10 years ago, as Morgan recently found out from Danny.

"You know, now would be a good time to find Dad."

Danny was about to reply when Morgan continued, "I know. You don't want to talk about him, but I think he should know what happened to Louie. He's still our father."

"Damn right, I don't want to talk about him. He wouldn't have left us like that if he cared about us."

"Danny…"

"If I were him, I wouldn't even have the guts to face my kids after all these years."

"What if he's dead, huh?" Morgan asked. "Would you regret not looking for him?"

"Honestly? No."

Even as Flack looked on from the outside, he could tell that their conversation was getting a little heated. He could take a couple of guesses of what they were arguing about…

"Did Louie stay in touch with him?" Morgan asked.

Danny paced the floor a bit, but didn't answer. "You knew where he was, don't you?"

"So what?" Danny said. Morgan was miffed, "You knew where he was, and you never said anything? How could you?"

"Why does it matter? Why do you want to see the person who left us to fend for ourselves after Mom died, huh?"

"To get some answers, at the very least," Morgan said. "Where is he now?" she pressed.

Danny paced the floor again. "Louie and him had a falling out years ago, they lost touch."

"Why?"

"Just drop it, sis. Can we not talk about him anymore?"

Morgan relented, for Louie's sake. "Fine. We won't…for now."

Turning to Louie and putting her arm around Danny's shoulder, she said, "I'll take good care of him, Louie."

A knock on the door alerted them to Dr. Miles' arrival. Morgan heard Danny take in a deep breath beside her. "Do you what you got to do, doc," he said.

"Detective Messer, I assure you, we've done all that we can for your brother…"

"I know, Doctor."

"If you need more time…"

"No," Danny said firmly. "You don't have to do this today, Detective."

"No," Danny said again. "The longer we take, the worse it'll get."

After confirming with Danny that he was a hundred percent sure about doing it that very day, Dr. Miles examined Louie's vitals, checked the life support machine and patient chart one last time. A group of three neurologists were summoned by Dr. Miles to do a final examination of Louie, to make absolutely sure that there would be no disagreement on the decision to pull the plug. They all concurred, and it finally sunk in for Danny that his brother was truly gone.

Dr. Miles stood next to the machines, as Danny stood by Louie's bed and holding his hand. Morgan on the other hand, stood at the doorway where Flack was, holding onto his arm for comfort.

Morgan never saw what happened next, for she had closed her eyes. All she heard was the unmistakable beeping that signaled a flat-line. She shut her eyes tighter, hoping that it would help shut out the dreaded sound, but it didn't…

* * *

I'm sorry I had to kill off Louie...it's just that TPTB hasn't been too generous with continuity, and Louie's status on the show is still unknown. And since my fic is slightly AU, it doesn't affect the show's canon in any way. ) Thank you for reading! I really do hope there's still people out there reading this thing... 


	44. The Search Begins

**I've been feeling really inspired lately, so I hope I'll be able to turn out another couple of chapters in the next couple of weeks. grin**

** DISCLAIMER: CSI:NY belongs to CBS, Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Alliance Atlantis. (I referred to the DVD box set. Heh.)**

**SPOILERS: Just a little bit from #2.20: "Run Silent, Run Deep".**

**Enjoy, and please leave me a review, no matter how short or how long, to let me what you thought of this chapter. Thank you for reading! **

* * *

**44: THE SEARCH BEGINS**

"Why did you change your mind, Danny?"

Morgan was standing with Danny in front of Louie's grave two days later, clutching a bouquet of lilies. He had been laid to rest a few hours earlier, in a simple burial in which only the siblings were present.

Danny's response to her question was to say nothing, and smiled sadly at his sister, who scoffed lightheartedly.

"The mysterious vibe doesn't suit you at all, just so you know," Morgan said, and Danny cracked an amused smile at her remark.

Morgan decided not to push the issue. If Danny wanted to tell her, he'd tell her...soon enough, or not at all.

"I'm sorry I never got to know him," Morgan said as she laid the bouquet of lilies on the side of the tombstone.

"All these years I've carried a grudge," Danny said. "All because he was trying to protect his little brother." Morgan put her arms around Danny to comfort him.

"We've been through this already," she said. "You didn't know. It's not your fault."

Danny's relationship with half-brother Louie had been strained ever since that day, fifteen years ago outside the Giants Stadium when Louie humiliated him in front of Sonny Sassone and drove him away. What Danny didn't know was that Louie did that to protect him. Had Louie not driven him away, Danny would have become an accessory to murder when Sassone killed the kid who was dealing drugs in his neighborhood. Louie and another Tanglewood boy at the time, Salvador Zabo, helped to bury the body.

The siblings stared at Louie's tombstone quietly for a few moments. Morgan was the first to break the silence.

"I'm going to find Dad. I don't care whether you like it or not."

Danny nodded slightly. "You think he deserves to know what happened to Louie."

"In the very least." Danny nodded again, his expression subdued. "What will you say to him?" he asked.

Morgan had asked herself this question a lot of times over the years. Where had he been all these years? Why didn't he try to contact them? Did he miss them? What happened over the past few months have changed her perspective somewhat. Right now, she knew exactly what she would say to her father if he were to stand in front of her at that very moment.

"I'd tell him that I'm very happy with my life right now," Morgan said. She would also tell her father that she managed to grow up just fine without him in her life. She would also tell him that Danny fulfilled the promise he had made to their mother before she passed away, a promise that their father failed to keep – it was to take good care of Morgan. "And just to rub it in, I'll also tell him that you did a damn good job of it too."

"Good, stick it to him," was Danny's reply.

"Does this mean you're okay with it?"

Danny shrugged. "You're free to do whatever you want," he said.

"But you won't be happy with it."

Danny looked down and picked at the soil with the toe of his shoe. Looking up, he said, "I decided a long time ago that I was never going to have anything to do with him."

"If you want to find him, go ahead," Danny added. "Just don't ask me to go see him."

Morgan let out a sigh. "I just hope that you don't end up regretting it, for your sake."

"Oh, I won't. I can promise you that..."

**XXX**

Morgan woke up that weekend morning slightly perspiring. The summer was approaching, and she was starting to feel the change in weather. She was already looking forward to the end of summer and the start of fall and winter.

Cooling off with a cold shower, Morgan was drying herself with a towel when she was hit with the feeling of alarm, like she'd forgotten something important. She had thought that that day was the day she was supposed to go with Flack to his parents' house in Queens for dinner, momentarily forgetting that Madeline, Flack's mother, had offered to reschedule the dinner for another day.

Flack had briefly mentioned to his mother about what happened to Louie, and Madeline had almost immediately given Morgan a call to give her a few words of comfort, which she sincerely appreciated. _"Thank you, Madeline," Morgan had said. "It's really sweet of you to call."_

A few sharp raps on the bathroom door jolted Morgan out of her thoughts.

"What?" she barked.

"You're snappy today," came Danny's voice from outside. Both of them had the weekend off, coincidentally.

"Because the weather is getting warmer," Morgan groaned as she put on her clothes. "It is? I don't feel it," Danny replied.

The bathroom door swung open and Morgan emerged, her shoulder-length hair tied up in a messy ponytail. "That's because you're not human," she said.

"Whatever," Danny said. "What have you got planned for today?"

"Nothin' much," Morgan said as she removed the rubber band from her hair and tied up her hair in a much neater ponytail. "I'm meeting Don for lunch later, you want to come along?"

She omitted the fact that Flack was also going to take her to see a private investigator, a former colleague of his who had opted for early retirement after suffering an injury in the line of duty about two years ago. He'd recently gotten his PI license and set up a PI firm. Maybe he could help track down her father's whereabouts. It didn't feel particularly right to Morgan to ask Flack or any of his cops friends to help, since it didn't pertain to any criminal investigation.

"Nah," Danny answered. "Then what do you want?" Morgan said.

Danny swore that sometimes, it was as if Morgan could read him like a book, from cover to cover. "What makes you think I want something?"

Morgan responded by giving him a _look_.

"You ever considered a career in profiling? Or counseling?"

"Hah," Morgan exclaimed. "I knew it."

"What?"

"You're always trying to change the subject whenever I hit the nail on the head."

"Fine," Danny said. "I just going to go to the grocery store, thought you might want to come along."

"You want to hang out with me?" Morgan said in mock-exaggeration. "I'm touched, but why?"

"No reason why."

"You know what this means?" Morgan had an almost impish smile on her lips.

"What?" Danny said, as he got a glass of water from the kitchen.

"You need a girlfriend," Morgan said matter-of-factly.

"I'm perfectly fine without one, thank you," Danny said as he flicked his finger on her forehead. "I'm leaving in ten minutes, if you're coming along."

"See?" Morgan said as Danny turned to go back to his room to change. "You're trying to deflect the subject again."

Danny raised his hand and without turning around, flipped Morgan _the_ finger.

"You shouldn't do that, Danny," Morgan laughed. "It's so very rude."

**XXX**

"Come on in!" A voice from behind the door said.

Morgan and Flack had arrived at the office of his former colleague, now a private investigator.

Flack turned the doorknob and both of them stepped inside. An Italian-looking man in his late 40s was sitting at a desk at the far end of the small office, his nose buried in the morning edition of the New York Post. Without looking up, he barked, "Do you have an appointment?"

"We're NYPD," Flack said. The man recognized the voice and his head popped up. "Donnie! What brings you here?"

"Got a job for you," Flack said. "But first, I want to introduce you to my girlfriend."

"This is Morgan Messer." The man stood up from his chair and shook hands with Morgan, who introduced himself as Bob. "About time, kid," he said to Don.

"Wait. Messer...?" Bob said with a confused frown. "Yeah," Don said. "_That_ Messer. She's his sister."

"Ah. Well, what can I do for you?"

Morgan looked to Flack, who nodded encouragingly. "I'm looking for my father," she said.

"He's missing?" Bob asked. "Well...not exactly." Morgan replied.

"It's a long story." Morgan briefly related that her father had been estranged from the family for a long time and no one knew his whereabouts. "There's been a death in the family, so we've decided to look for him, at least to tell him what has happened."

Bob nodded in understanding. "I get it. So when did you see him last?"

"Um..." Morgan pondered a while before answering. "About fifteen years, give or take?"

Bob whistled. "You sure got a lot of faith in me, Donnie." He took out a notepad from his desk drawer and began patting the front of his shirt, in search of a pen, and Don provided Bob with his own. "Oh, thanks. So, let's start with your father's name."

"Joseph Messer."

"Alright..." Bob scribbled it down in his notepad. "What else can you tell me?"

Danny had given Morgan some details after much prodding the night Louie was buried, including a couple of things she'd never known before: it turns out that their father was, or might still be, a lawyer. _"You're kidding," Morgan had said. "He worked for a private firm, I think," Danny said._

"You have the name of the firm?" Bob asked. Morgan handed him a folded piece of notepad paper with the name of a law firm on it. "My brother couldn't be sure, it might have been this one," she said.

Also written on the notepad was the address of the apartment that they were living in, at the time of Danny and Morgan's mother's death, until they left.

Morgan also handed a picture of her father to Bob. It was the only picture she was able to save and hide away before Danny could find it. When he was 16, Danny got drunk on his mother's death anniversary (Morgan never found out where he'd gotten the booze from), and impulsively tore up his father's pictures.

Flack glanced over her shoulder to take a look at the photo. "He looks a lot like Danny," he said.

After Bob had taken down everything Morgan could tell him, Bob promised to do his best. "But it's going to take some time, New York's a city of 8 million people," he said. "Let's hope he's still living here in town."

"It's okay, I know it's a long shot," Morgan said. "Take your time."

Morgan and Flack got up to leave. "What about the fees...?" she asked.

Bob closed his notepad and placed it on the table. "Don't worry about it, consider this a pro bono job."

"But..." Morgan began to protest. "It's no problem," Bob said with a wave of his hand.

"You're Donnie's girl, that practically makes us family."

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	45. Morgan Messer, Crime Scene Investigator?

**Disclaimer: _CSI:NY and its character belong to CBS, Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Alliance Atlantis. I only own the OC character Morgan Messer._**

**Spoilers: _Minor mention of the last 2-3 episodes of Season 2. _**

**A/N: I know my story's been moving along a little slow lately, and that I have yet to transition into Season 3's storyline. Oh, but it's happening...probably the next chapter or so. Thanks to everyone who is still sticking around, and special thanks goes out to my dear e-mail pal Elvie (whenever you do reach this chapter): I can never thank you enough for the wonderful reviews. Everyone else, I'd love to hear what you think about Morgan moving out into the field. Reviews are very much welcome, and appreciate. Now, on to the chapter!  
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**45: MORGAN MESSER, CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATOR?**

The weekend approached. To Morgan, it was D-Day. The day that she would be having dinner with Flack's parents at their place in Queens. It was a day that she wasn't particularly looking forward to. She almost wished that something would come up and she would have to cancel her "appearance".

Morgan was about to get her wish.

On the afternoon of D-Day, Don sat in the break room while waiting for Morgan, and sipping a cup of coffee. Actually, it was more like he was spitting out the coffee rather than drinking it. Why is it that cop shop coffee always tastes like drain water? Flack thought to himself.

He had been given the all-clear to return to work, but was to be limited to desk duty, until he completed a required number of rehabilitation sessions to make sure he was fit enough to go back out into the field. And, for the first time in as many months, Flack did not have to break any dates with Morgan at the last minute because of work.

He was going to miss that.

Seeing Morgan walk briskly towards the break room through the glass windows of the lab, Flack dumped the paper cup containing the crap coffee into the trash can and went out to meet her halfway. "You're late," Flack chided jokingly.

"Hey," Morgan said. "Sorry, Don."

Flack understood, upon seeing her apologetic expression. He reckoned that this was what his face looked like whenever he had to break a date with her. "Rain check?" he guessed.

As it turned out, Mac had abruptly ordered Adam and Morgan out into the field, to assist Danny in processing a crime scene in Chinatown. "Bank robbery," Morgan explained. Stella was originally on the case with Danny, but was called away to another crime scene. Hawkes and Lindsay were busy with a case that they'd caught that morning, and Mac was headed to court to testify in a trial. Adam and Morgan were the only persons he could send out into the field on such short notice.

"All tapped out, huh?" Flack said.

"Looks like it," Morgan said. "I'm so sorry, Don."

"That's okay, we can lunch another day," Flack said.

"I was talking about this evening," Morgan said. "You know, _the_ dinner."

Processing the crime scene would take hours. Add that to the rush hour evening commute, there was no way she would be able to make it to Queens for dinner with Flack's parents in time. Fortunately, Flack was very understanding.

"I'll explain it to my folks," he said. "They'll understand."

"I feel so bad about disappointing your mother, I know how much she was looking forward to this."

"Don't worry about it."

"I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Flack cracked an amused smile. "I guess I kind of deserve it," he said. "I used to be one saying all that to you."

"Yeah, Karma's quite the bitch, huh?" Morgan replied jokingly.

Flack flicked the tip of her nose lightly. "But, just because it's you, I'll take whatever crap she wants to throw at me."

Morgan pushed his arm away. "I was expecting you to say something more classy."

Adam came running over, and he tossed her a department-issue windbreaker, which was dark blue in color; with the words "CSI:NY" and "POLICE DEPT" on the back in white block letters. "We gotta go," he said, and handed her an extra crime scene kit.

"I'll call you tonight," Morgan promised. "Be careful out there," Flack said.

**XXX**

By the time Morgan and Adam arrived at the crime scene, the EMTs had already removed the dead body – one of the bank robbers – and transported his body to the morgue. There were two other accomplices, but they fled the scene before police officers could arrive.

Entering the bank, Morgan could see a blood pool near the exit, indicating that it was the spot where the dead suspect fell and died. She and Adam took care not to step on the blood as they tiptoed their way past the doorway. There were bullet casings scattered all over the cramped premises. The robbers had gotten into a shootout with the two security guards on duty at the time. One of the guards was mildly injured, when a bullet fired by one of the robbers grazed his leg. There were also a few holes in the walls made by the bullets.

"You'd think it'd be easier to hit a target in this small a space," Morgan quipped. "The robbers don't seem to have very good aim."

Morgan saw Danny talking to one of the uniformed officers and called out to him.

"Mac said he'd send help," Danny said. "But he didn't say that he'd send _you_."

"You got a problem with that?"

"Well, the problem is that you have no experience in crime scene processing. Zip, nada, zilch."

"Why you gotta rub it in, huh?" Morgan shot back. "What about Adam?"

Apparently, Adam had been in the field a couple of times before, so he knew what to do without being told. "Why didn't you tell me?" Morgan said. "You never asked," was Adam's reply.

"Alright, here's what you need to know..."

Danny briefly went over the basic procedures of evidence collecting with Morgan. She was to photo-document everything she found, seal whatever evidence she found into an evidence bag with the red evidence tape, and sign her initials on the seal to ensure chain of custody. She was also required to take notes. "Got it."

"You sure?" said Danny, his expression doubtful. "I'm not an idiot," Morgan replied with an annoyed sigh.

They got down to work. Danny handed her a camera, and a pair of latex gloves. It was clear that they were about two sizes too big for Morgan before she even slipped them on.

"Hmm," Danny said. "You might need to talk to Mac to see if there's extra money in the budget for a special order of kid-sized gloves."

"Very funny," Morgan said dryly, as she put them on. "At least I don't have to spend half a day just trying to put them on, like you."

Indeed, Danny had been trying hard to slip on his latex gloves during the duration of the conversation with Morgan.

Morgan went about photographing anything of interest: bullet casings, shattered glass, blood stains, stray bills of money lying on the floor, etc. Danny handed her one of the those L-shaped rulers, and she placed it next to a shell casing that she'd spotted on the ground. She snapped a picture of it, and retrieved a pair of plastic tweezers from the crime scene kit. Getting down on her knees to pick up the shell casing, Morgan suddenly felt someone standing close behind her – Danny.

"God, Danny, will you please stop breathing down my neck?" Morgan protested. "It's creepy, to say the least."

"I just wanted to see–" Danny began, but Morgan cut him off. "I know what I'm doing, okay?"

They remained there with Adam over the next few hours. By the time they left, it was well over 5p.m. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be having dinner with Flack and his parents?" Adam asked as they loaded the evidence bags into the CSI truck. Morgan stared daggers at him. "Yeah, I _was._"

"Oh." Adam got the hint.

**XXX**

An exhausted Morgan got home later that night, threw herself onto her bed and remembered that she had promised to call Flack when she was done. She flipped open her cell phone and punched in Flack's number. His familiar voice floated over the line, and Morgan found herself smiling. "Hey, how did dinner go?"

Flack's mother had been understandably disappointed that Morgan had been unable to turn up, but told Flack that they could always have dinner another day. "And what did your father say?" Morgan asked. "Nothing much," Flack said. "Just nodded and headed for the dinner table." Flack's mother was asking him about Morgan during most of the dinner, and Flack Sr. had said very little throughout.

"Oh, great," Morgan moaned. "Your father _really_ doesn't like me."

"Like I said before," Flack began, "I don't give a damn whether he approves of my girlfriend or not. So it doesn't matter."

"To me, it does, Don."

"Let's not talk about my old man. How was your first field experience?"

Morgan filled him in on her day, and Flack could feel her excitement even over the phone lines. "You want to do this again, don't you?" Flack said. "A little bit," Morgan admitted.

**XXX**

The next afternoon at work, Morgan found herself being summoned to Mac's office. She made her way there and saw him poring over a case file and knocked on the glass door to signal her presence. "You wanted to see me, Mac?" He motioned for her to step inside and take a seat. Mac put his case file away and presented her with another. Morgan opened it and saw that it was the report she had just typed up and handed in to him, regarding the Chinatown robbery crime scene from the day before.

"Danny told me that you did pretty good out there yesterday," Mac said.

"Really?" Morgan beamed, and Mac nodded. She wasn't expecting any praise from Danny, so it was definitely a surprise. He showed her the crime scene photos she had taken, saying, "Good work on the photos and the report."

Smiling sheepishly, Morgan said, "I've helped Danny out on some his reports before," and Mac raised a questioning eyebrow. "Oh, he has some minor grammar and spelling issues," Morgan replied and Mac smiled knowingly.

Mac had called her into his office with the intention of asking her if she wanted to work out in the field more, in the future. The crime lab could certainly use one more field investigator (not that you could ever have enough of those, with the city's crime rate); and he could see that Morgan had great potential, if given the proper training and guidance. "What do you think?" Mac asked as he handed her an application form for the field test. Morgan took the form from his hands and studied it. "I don't have a background in Science," she said apprehensively. "You don't have to be a Science major to do the job, Morgan."

Morgan considered his offer for a few moments. It felt good working out in the field the day before, and she had felt a great deal of satisfaction whenever she uncovered a useful piece of evidence among the mess in the bank. Morgan was aware that part of how she felt could be attributed to the excitement of her first field experience; but another part of her really wanted to do it again. She loved the feeling of being directly involved in a case, and to contribute to collecting the evidence. "But what about my job in A/V?" Morgan asked.

"You'll be called out to the field as and when you're needed," Mac said. "Otherwise, you'll still be working primarily in A/V, if you don't mind pulling double duty."

Morgan did not mind. There were some really slow days in A/V sometimes, and the free time could definitely be put to good use by going out in the field and helping the team on other cases. She liked the feeling of being occupied, and it made her feel like she was useful. "Thanks, Mac," Morgan said, gesturing to the application form. She was about to turn and leave his office; when she stopped and looked back at him.

"Can I tell you something?" Morgan said, and Mac nodded for her to go on.

She confided that after the events of the past couple of months, Morgan had been feeling some doubts about her job as an A/V tech. She couldn't even help when the people closest to her were in trouble; there was nothing she could do except to wait and look on while the rest of the CSIs worked feverishly to help their colleague. "I couldn't even help to catch Aiden's killer; or the bomber that caused Don to end up in hospital," Morgan said, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Working in the field makes me feel like what I'm doing will actually make a difference."

Morgan was getting tired of sitting around and waiting while the team tried to find any evidence that they could take to her, and she was just nothing more than a bystander when the evidence didn't involve her contribution. However, she also understood that doing the job wasn't just about personal satisfaction; it was also about finding justice for the victims who couldn't speak for themselves, in death. She believed in that wholeheartedly, too. "I just hope I don't disappoint you, Mac."

Mac smiled reassuringly. "I have faith in you, Morgan. I wouldn't have hired you back then if I didn't."

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	46. Morgan Messer, CSI Part II

**_How time flies, we're moving into 2008 real soon! Here's a short chapter for y'all, as sort of a belated Christmas present, hehe. Sorry for the lame title, I promise to work on that in future chapters. Reviews are very much appreciated. Thanks for reading!_  
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**46: MORGAN MESSER, CSI - PART II  
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"You_ WHAT_?"

Being the dutiful (and sometimes, long-suffering) sister that she was, Morgan went to Danny immediately after leaving Mac's office to fill him in. Morgan had expected Danny to react like that, so she hardly batted an eyelid to his outburst. "You heard what I said, Danny."

"I don't think it's a good idea," said Danny vehemently. "I wasn't asking for your permission," Morgan said as she rolled her eyes. Why do I even bother, Morgan thought to herself. Part of her wished that she hadn't gone to Danny, and instead went ahead and handed in her application for the field test before she did so; so that there was no room for him to object. "I'm a big girl now, I can take care of myself."

"Maybe you should think it over a little more; working in the field isn't all that it's cranked up to be," Danny said.

"I've made up my mind." Morgan tried to explain the reasons behind her decision, but Danny would have none of it. "No way," Danny said firmly. "You're the only sister I have, I can't let anything happen to you. Mom would never forgive me."

Morgan was touched by his love for her, but she was as stubborn as he was. There was no way she was going to let Danny sway her decision. "I think Mom would be proud of me," Morgan said. "I'm an adult now, I _know_ what I'm doing."

She placed her hand on Danny's cheek. "And I think it's time you started living life for your own sake, not mine."

He swept her hand away. "I'm your big brother, it's my duty to look out for you. I promised Mom."

"And you've done a _fantastic_ job of that," Morgan said as she bit her lip to stop the tears from coming out. "You've fulfilled your promise."

Morgan was worried about her brother. Danny was not only her brother, but also her father and mother rolled into one. For the past 20 years, he had lived his life for her; taking care of her, making sure she didn't have to go hungry (even if it meant that he had to) and basically doing everything her father should have done. She was afraid that he had forgotten how to live for his own sake. Morgan couldn't stay with him forever; she was going to have her own family someday – a husband and children (God forbid they don't turn out to be the Devil's spawn); a life seperate from her brother. What was going to happen to him then?

"You need to find someone that you can spend the rest of your life with; I can't be with you forever," Morgan said. "It's going to be a little weird, if we're still living together, 30 years down the road, you know?" Danny rubbed the back of his head, saying, "I just haven't found the right girl yet."

"That's because you're not even _trying_," Morgan sighed. "Whoa, wait. Why are we talking about _me_ now? I'm not done with you yet."

"But I've already made my decision, end of conversation. We really should talk about you."

"Fine," Danny conceded. "Do what you want, but you won't get any help from me."

"Oh, don't worry," Morgan said. "I'm sure Mac and the others are more than willing to do that. Besides, I might not pass the field test."

Danny shot her a look. He knew that she would keep trying until she did pass, by hook or by crook. Part of him was happy to see her follow in his footsteps, but another part of him regretted bringing Morgan into this world of his in the first place. "You brought me into this world, Danny," Morgan spoke suddenly, mimicing his thoughts. "You should've seen this coming." She was right, Danny did see this coming – deep down, at the back of his mind. He had seen Morgan's eyes light up in curiosity when she helped to proofread his reports on a few occasions, and she hardly flinched now while looking at crime scene photos – some were really graphic and beyond R-rated material, it was X-rated, even. It was only a matter of time before she started thinking about experiencing it up close, rather than experience it vicariously through him and the rest of the team.

Danny had also seen her enthusiasm the day before at the crime scene in Chinatown – the way she smiled in satisfaction when she uncovered a shell casing. There really was no stopping Morgan, he realized. He could either stand in her way – and let her push her way through – or move aside and let her decide for herself if that was what she really wanted to do. "I don't want to sit here and think about what could've been," Morgan said, interrupting his thoughts. "Even if I didn't make it, at least I tried."

He wouldn't dare admit it, but sometimes Danny really admired – and hated, at the same time – his sister's guts and determination. Perhaps those two qualities are what would help her through this job, Danny thought to himself. Her ability to read people's thoughts and getting them to open up (this was a nice way of putting it) was also something that few had a natural talent for. Morgan also had a healthy sense of righteousness and justice to boot – he wondered if it was because she was around him and Flack so much nowadays that their habits and qualities were beginning to rub off on her – she was beginning to develop a sense of humor that was similar to Flack's, that could become her way of dealing with the grim nature of the job.

**XXX  
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Morgan handed her application form to Mac before she clocked out for the day. "That was fast," Mac said. "Yeah, I didn't want to give myself the chance to change my mind."

Mac had already expected what her answer would be, especially after her heartfelt confession to him earlier. He was a good judge of character; he believed that he wouldn't be wrong about Morgan's ability to do well in the field. He just wasn't sure yet if she would be able to handle the more gory aspects of the job. "You'll be seeing some pretty horrible things, you have to mentally prepared for that," Mac said to her. Morgan nodded. She knew what she was getting herself into, and honestly, she didn't know yet if she would be able to take it. Morgan could handle looking at photographs of hacked-off limbs, bloated bodies, decomposing flesh, etc. as well as watching videos of similar nature – but she had never experienced it up close and personal. Frankly, she was afraid of what might actually happen. Mac seemed to sense her uneasiness, and tried to reassure her.

"It's okay to get sick and throw up at the beginning; it happens to the best of us," he said. "Even you?" Morgan replied. "Even me," Mac said. "It just takes a little getting used to, really," he added.

**XXX**

Morgan hopped into Flack's waiting car outside the crime lab shortly after leaving Mac's office, and informed him of the good news. "Seriously? You're gonna become a crime scene tech?" Flack said, his eyes widening. "Yup, _if_ I pass the field test," Morgan said with a Cheshire Cat-like grin. "Which I bet that you'll try until you actually do," Flack quipped.

"Gee, have you been sharing your brain with Danny? He said almost the exact same thing."

Flack snorted. "You know what they say about great minds..." Morgan feigned ignorance. "They become psychos?" she joked, and Flack rolled his eyes at her.

They were getting ready to drive off, and Flack gentlemanly offered to buckle Morgan's seatbelt for her, and she obliged. "I love it when you become all gentle and sweet," she said. Flack reached over to the passenger's side to tug on the seatbelt, and a small bottle of pills fell out from his pants pocket. Morgan picked it up and read the prescription label. "What's this?" she asked. Flack grabbed it from her hands and mumbled, "Sleeping pills."

Morgan sat up straighter in the car seat. "What? Why didn't you tell me before that you were having trouble sleeping?"

Flack rubbed a hand over his face. "I didn't want you to get worried." He had been having trouble sleeping through the night, on and off, ever since he landed in the hospital after getting injured in the explosion a couple of months before. His injury and the effect it has had on him was something he rarely, if never, discussed with Morgan. He was thankful that she never broached the topic with him, when in fact, Morgan was actually waiting for Flack to open up and talk about it himself. She didn't want to put unwanted pressure on him, and preferred to wait till he was ready to talk about it. "Besides, I've been meeting with the department shrink. I'm doing good," Flack said.

Morgan was a little hurt that Flack did not seem to want to confide in her, and he picked up on it. "I'm sorry, I just didn't want to burden you with all this." He held up her hand to his lips and kissed it. Honestly, Flack didn't know what he could tell her. Some details of that fateful day were still a little fuzzy, and according to the department shrink it's normal to have some memory loss of a traumatic event. Some people never fully regain their memories of the events of what happened, while some manage to recall details after they are faced with certain triggers, such as a similar traumatic event. To Flack, not being able to remember might be a good thing, he certainly did not want to know the details of how he ended up with a hole in his gut. Of what little he could remember, Flack seemed to have heard Mac's voice in the distance a few times, urging him to hang on. Other times, he seemed to be drifting in and out; from one dream to another. He never admitted it to anyone but the shrink, but a lot of his dreams seemed to involve Morgan.

Morgan sighed. "Just be careful with the dosage, okay?" There were far too many stories of people accidentally overdosing on sleeping pills; or developing a dependence on them and getting addicted. She feared the same could happen with Flack, although she believed he was made of far stronger stuff, it would take a lot for him to slip into an addiction. However, this was a vulnerable time for him, one moment of weakness could change things forever. "Don't worry, I know better than to over-medicate," Flack reassured her. He believed that his sleep problems would get better, once he got back to work and started up his usual routine again.

"You mean the whole sleeping for 2 hours everyday, skipping meals and pulling all-nighters kind of "usual routine"?" Morgan asked, eyeballing him. "Heh," Flack smiled sheepishly. "Seriously, I've had enough of sitting on my ass all day and doin' nothing. I'd rather be out there chasing bad guys right now."

Morgan rolled her eyes. "I didn't realize that one of the points in the list of qualities that the NYPD looks at when they recruit you could be used to describe your behavior," she said. "Which is?" Flack asked. "More than willing to get himself killed, in the line of duty." Morgan joked. "You _do_ remember what Danny said to you about dying on me, right?" she added.

"Of course I remember. He'll probably vandalize my grave, dig up my coffin and feed my bones to the dogs."


	47. Revenge is Sweet, Indeed

**_How is 2008 going for everyone at the moment? Okay, I promise I will start getting to Season 3's plot lines with the next chapter (about dang time, right? lol). As usual, please read and review. Thanks so much for reading, and enjoy! _**

**_ Disclaimer: _**_CSI: NY and its characters are owned by CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer Television. I only own the OC Morgan. _**  
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** 47: REVENGE IS SWEET, INDEED**

It was Morgan's first official day as a trainee; and Mac had assigned her to assist Stella on the latter's cases for the next two weeks.

That afternoon, Stella brought Morgan along to an apartment building on Lower Manhattan. An elderly woman had been found dead in her bedroom by a relative of hers, who had come by to visit. The smell of decomposing flesh that hit Morgan's nostrils like a train as they walked down the hall towards the apartment told her that the deceased had probably met her demise a few days ago.

Stella threw a glance back at Morgan, who had covered her nose with her arm. "You'll get used to it," she said to the younger woman, and Morgan gave her a pained smile. "Here," Stella handed her a small paper bag that she dug out from her crime scene kit. "Just in case." Morgan received it appreciatively and folded it into her pocket.

The sweltering summer heat did no favors to the body; in fact it only accelerated the rate of decomposition. Stella and Morgan finally reached the apartment, as a uniformed officer came running out of the door and almost knocked Morgan down to the ground in his haste. "Sorry," the young officer called out, and Morgan noticed his sickened look. Stella assured her that it was okay even if the same thing happened to her. It was normal for the rookies to get sick and throw up at their first crime scenes. Morgan nodded nervously. She stepped into the bedroom with Stella, and started taking photos while trying not to let the smell bother her, which was getting more unbearable by the second.

Finally, after sticking it out for nearly 15 minutes, Morgan could stand it no longer. She rushed out of the apartment and into the hallway, where she threw up into the paper bag that Stella had given her earlier.

"You alright?" A voice next to her said. It turned out to be another young officer. Morgan nodded slightly, and walked to the end of the hallway to deposit the paper bag into the trash chute. "I'm a rookie myself, just graduated from the academy a few months ago," he called out to her. When she returned, the young officer was still standing at that same spot, and he was now looking at her intently. "Have we met before?" he asked. Morgan shook her head. He asked for her name, and Morgan held up her ID pass for him to see.

"Morgan Messer?" The young man said. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere." He stared at her some more, and he obviously liked what he was seeing.

"Am I supposed to know who you are?"

The young man identified himself as Bobby Grant, which instantly rang a bell with Morgan. They used to be classmates back in middle school. She pursed her lips into a tight line, then busted out her most sincere-looking fake smile. "Of course, I remember you now." He was someone that Morgan hoped never to see again, but as they say, fate works in mysterious ways. She sincerely hoped that this was the last time they would bump into each other at work, out in the field.

"We haven't seen each other since we were what, 12?" Grant said, and Morgan nodded. "You were the class bully," she said simply.

Morgan wasn't really interested in speaking to him, because of that very reason.

"Yeah," Grant laughed. "I used to make fun of the way you dressed, and for wearing your brother's old clothes."

"And I used to stick up for the other kids you bullied, too," Morgan said, while smiling her fake sincere smile. "You were the only girl who dared to do so," Grant replied.

_And I'd gladly do it again,_ Morgan thought to herself. "Remember anything else?" she asked, and Grant shook his head. He turned away to speak briefly on his radio just then, so he did not notice Morgan raising an eyebrow at his response. Grant turned back to her after he was done. "You were saying?"

"Never mind," Morgan said. "How's that mother of yours?" She was trying hard not to spit out her words.

"Died last year, cancer."

"I see, I'm so sorry to hear about that." Morgan replied in a sincere, yet emotionless in a painfully-obvious way, which was completely lost on Bobby Grant, though. _Your mother was a real bitch_, Morgan said to herself. The uniformed officer that Morgan bumped into earlier approached Grant, and they stepped away to talk with each other. Before he did, though, Bobby Grant said, "Hey, maybe we should get together for a drink and catch up, huh?"

Just then, Stella emerged from the apartment to inform her that the Medical Examiner just called, she was stuck in traffic, and it was going to be another half hour before she would get there. "She?" Morgan said. "Yeah, Dr. Peyton Driscoll," Stella replied. Peyton Driscoll was an ME for a number of years, before leaving to teach at Columbia University for a few years, and now she was back in the ME's office again.

"Who was that?" Stella said, noticing that Morgan was speaking with someone before she came out. "Friend of yours?"

Morgan shook her head. "Far from it. He's just a kid in my class back in middle school."

Stella noted that she didn't sound too happy about seeing him again. "I'm not," Morgan said plainly. "Dare I ask why?" Stella said.

"There was this...incident between him and me when we were 10 years old," Morgan related.

_Bobby Grant was notorious for bullying the kids in their class back then, including Morgan, who used to be the butt of his jokes because of the way she dressed. It wasn't her fault, really, because in between paying the rent and buying food and necessities, it wasn't like there was enough money left for Danny to buy Morgan new clothes whenever she wanted. So, she often had to wear old clothes given to her by kind neighbors, or hand-me-downs from Danny. Their little feud started when Morgan started standing up for the other kids whom he'd bullied. _

_One day during the kids' lunch break, Bobby Grant sic-ed his "posse" onto Morgan, who pinned her down on the playground floor, while he himself got out a pair of scissors (which he'd swiped from the classroom) and proceeded to cut off Morgan's ponytail, to get back at her. A furious and slightly traumatized Morgan managed to push the boys away, and went after Bobby. The first thing she did when she caught up to him was to give him a good kick in the crotch, and he immediately doubled over in pain. Young Morgan took the chance to push him down on the ground, sat on him and started to punch and scratch him; until a teacher saw what was happening and pulled Morgan off of the boy. _

Stella let out a "whoosh" of air from her mouth. "Hmm. Danny's taught you well, it seems," she said with a chuckle. "You bet," Morgan said with a wink.

_The teacher hauled both of them off to the principal's office. The kindly old man was shocked at the state the children were in, and rightly so. Morgan looked like a complete mess: her clothes were covered with dirt and grass, and her suddenly too-short hair was all uneven at the ends and sticking out at all possible angles. Bobby Grant on the other hand, wasn't looking too hot either. Morgan had bestowed upon him a black eye, a fat lip and a chipped tooth, as well as several scratches on his face. He was also missing a fistful of hair, which Morgan had yanked out by the root during the fight. Oh, and not to mention a serious bruise in his nether regions where Morgan had kicked him. _

_Obviously, the parents had to be called into school for a chat with the principal. In Morgan's case, it was Danny that they had to call, of course. So there Morgan was, standing in the principal's office with her dirty clothes and staring daggers at Bobby Grant, who didn't seem at all sorry for what he did. Mrs. Grant came to the school as soon as she could, and let out an overdramatic yelp upon seeing her son's injuries. The boy promptly launched into a sob story about how __**Morgan**__ had started the fight, and that he only cut off her hair in self-defense. Needless to say, Bobby Grant was a spoilt child whose mother doted on him a little too excessively. "That's bullshit," young Morgan spat out, and earning the mother's wrath, who went into a tirade against Morgan. _

_She didn't remember exactly what Bobby Grant's mother said about her, only that she didn't like what she was hearing. Something about being a wild child with serious disciplinary problems. Morgan was still busy with glaring fiercely at Bobby Grant to bother with what the woman was saying, until she made the mistake of dragging Danny into her tirade. "Shut up, you old hag, you don't know anything about my brother," Morgan lashed out in Danny's defense, and mentioning the three dreaded words a woman never wanted to hear: 'you old hag'. The mother was so angered that she was about to raise a hand to strike Morgan, when Danny turned up at that very moment. _

_He stood between Morgan and the woman, and defended his little sister. Danny was also very shocked to see Morgan in her disheveled state, and demanded to know what in the world had happened. Bobby Grant's mother resumed her ranting, only she was directing her anger onto Danny instead of Morgan. "Lady, I know my sister. She is no troublemaker. And I also know for a fact that your son often picks on the other kids in class," Danny shot back at her._

"The little jerk was hiding behind his Mommy Dearest the entire time," Morgan spat out. "Coward."

_The principal finally managed to get a word in, and persuaded both parental units to stop arguing for a moment and let Morgan tell her side of the story, which was the God's honest truth, as compared to the rubbish that Bobby Grant had passed off for the truth. His story had more holes than a block of Swiss cheese. Morgan related the incident as it had really happened, but Bobby Grant's mother would have none of it, and accused the young girl of being a liar. The teacher (to her credit) tried to defend Morgan by reiterating Danny's earlier statement that Bobby Grant was known to bully the other kids; and again the mother chose to believe that her son was the wholly innocent party. _

_Eventually, Morgan was given two weeks' detention (not because she started the fight, but rather, because she didn't walk away from it). Also, at the insistence of Bobby Grant's mother, she was made to talk to the school counselor twice a week for a month, so that she could get help with "curbing her violent tendencies". Bobby Grant, on the other hand, got off fairly lightly. His mother had promised the principal that she would discipline on her own at home, and the old man had agreed to it. The woman also requested that Morgan be transferred into another class, away from her son. "Good!" Young Morgan had exclaimed when that request was made. _

"I found out a couple of years later that his father donated money to the school regularly," Morgan said to Stella, who nodded understandingly. And, as a result of that incident, Morgan never grew her hair long again – not until her sophomore year in high school. "I can't believe he not only forgot about what happened, he was also trying to ask me out just a moment ago," Morgan said, feeling very much annoyed.

**XXX**

Dr. Peyton Driscoll still hadn't arrived after a half hour _after_ she was supposed to arrive, while Stella and Morgan were almost done with processing the tiny apartment – she was already getting used to the smell – not that there was much to process in the first place. All signs pointed to a natural cause of death – she probably died in her sleep – and no foul play. As if on cue, Stella's Palm Treo beeped; they had to go to another crime scene, so they hurriedly packed their things and got ready to leave. Before they left, however, Stella stuck Bobby Grant with the task of watching the apartment (and the body) until Dr. Driscoll arrived. He took a step into the apartment for the first time (he was outside, in the hallway the entire time before that), and Morgan could see the color of his face change immediately, and was trying very hard to suppress the urge to mock him.

"Don't worry," Morgan said smugly. "It gets worse before it gets better."

The two women walked out of the apartment, smiling to themselves as soon as they were in the hallway of the building. "Did you see the look on his face?" Morgan laughed.

"I thought a little revenge was in order," Stella replied.

"And it was very sweet, indeed," Morgan said.

* * *


End file.
